You Can't Touch This
by baby blue eyes10
Summary: Alexa Parker didn't believe that the playboy could become the celibate. Lyla Parker didn't think her perfect boyfriend was hiding something that could change them forever. As sixth year begins, their lives are forever changed by one word: Marauders.
1. And So It Begins

Disclaimer: We don't own Harry Potter, but we would like to kid ourselves in the idea that we will one day own it.

BabyBlueEyes10 Author's Note: Hello PEOPLE! It's yours truly, babyblueeyes10 and amuletgirl5, here and finally getting around to writing a story together. For all you out there, I, babyblueeyes10 will be writing all the odd chapters and amuletgirl5 will be writing all the even. Any questions? Good, please feel free to leave any questions, comments, etc. in a review and we will reply with your answers. We hope to have up chapters every month, but don't hold us to that schedule. Anyways, read on and enjoy our new story!!!!!

_italics Blair_

**_italics/bold Alexa_**

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And So, It begins...

Alexa's Point of View

I was sitting in Transfiguration one day when I felt a tug at the back of my head. I was like, 'Who is tugging at the back of my head.' Therefore, I decided to ask. "Who is tugging at the back of my head?" I turned around to see Sirius Black, his hand outstretched to my head. "I'm sorry," He said, "I was tugging at the back of your head." I smiled and was like, "That's alright Sirius." Then we went back to the lesson without any more problems. The rest of the day went swimmingly…

NOT!

Sitting in Transfiguration, I sighed, squeezing my hands convulsively as there was a sharp tap to the back of my head. Again. I growled low in my throat as I tried not to turn around and round house someone's head off. "Calm down, Alexa. Don't let him know it bothers you." My loving and adoring sister, Lyla said. Maybe I should tell you a little about my friends and myself. I, your loving narrator, am Alexa. I am in my sixth year here at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I have curly brown hair and green/hazel eyes. I'm around 5'7 and like boys, eating, and causing trouble. We're muggle born and I will beat you up if you call me any derogatory names! Get it, got it, good.

My sister, Lyla, is a nine months older than me and looks about the same as I do. We are Irish twins. Her brown hair is shorter than mine is and she straightens it instead of leaving it curly. Her eyes are a bluish-green and she likes school way more than I do or anyone should. The boy Lyla's likes, though she won't tell anyone, is Remus Lupin, part of the esteemed group of the Marauders, but more on them later. My other friend, Bree, is 5'8, has long brown hair, long legs, and dances wonderfully in high-heels. She is extremely smart and she and Lyla get along great. Especially during exam week. She is currently dating Travis Greenwell, a seventh year at Hogwarts. My other friend Blair is the shortest of the group at 5'4 and is the less studious next to me. She has chocolate brown eyes, golden brown hair with longer layers framing her face. She is currently dating James Potter, one of the 'Marauders.' We've been best friends forever and always will be.

The mongrels sitting behind my sister and I were the ever elite group called the marauders. They were the rulers of trouble, and seemed to take pride in that title. Each and everyday they strutted around the school acting as if they owned the place and everyone in it. The so-called 'leader' of the Marauders is James Potter, Blair's boy toy and number one trouble causer. He has the messiest black hair, hazel eyes hidden behind dorky glasses that somehow make him even cuter, and is about 5'11. Everyone thought that James was after Lily Evans, stuck up and smartest witch of our age, but he surprised everyone by asking out our little Blair. They've been dating for about two months and seem to be 'in love'.

Next is Remus Lupin, the studious troublemaker, is part of the group as well. He has sandy brownish-blonde hair and gold eyes. I don't how his eyes became that golden color, but I have to give him respect for that. He is about the same size as James, but he always seems to look a little peaky and sick. I don't know why, but I guess that's why that boy is a mystery to us all. Maybe that's why Lyla likes him? By the way, Remus has a girlfriend. Boo!

Remus' girlfriend, Andy Ablo (no lie that really is her name), is a complete female dog. She hates my sister, Blair, me with a passion because she is Lily Evans' friend and Lily seems to have taken a disliking to us. Andy has blue eyes, blonde hair, big curves, and is tall. She is the stereotype airhead, of which she has all the qualities. If we hang out with the Marauders, which we do often, I always try to hint to Remus to dump her and date Lyla, but he always just blushes. Sigh.

Last, and in my eyes least, is Sirius Black. Cue swooning girls and that devilish smile. Sorry, I just threw up a little in my mouth. Anyways, Black has black hair (fancy that) that he keeps long so it falls into his eyes and he can flip his hair and cause the girls to go crazy. To me, it's rather annoying, but then again I guess it's not so bad. His piercing grey/silver eyes bare into your soul and hold you in his stare. Cough, uh, never mind that. He holds the key to every girl's heart and doesn't he know it. He's about 6'1 and is the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome. I despise the boy. One, because he is the root of all the evil in my life.

And two, because I am hopelessly in love with him.

I know, I know, didn't I just spend five minutes telling you about how I despise the boy. Yes, that's correct, I did. But I don't know why I have these feelings towards him. It's like how you like someone even though you seem to hate them with a passion. Must be some sort of reverse psychology. Besides the fact that he likes to bug me, make fun of me, and embarrass me at the worst of times, he's not really that bad. Except for now, when I'm trying to listen to Professor McGonagall and he's taken to flicking me in the back of the head and pulling my hair. Why, oh why, did I sit here today?

I sent Lyla a look, but she only shrugged and went back to taking the notes that I would copy later. Turning around slowly, I looked at Sirius who was sitting beside James in the seat behind me. "What?" I whispered shrewdly as I tried to keep my voice from hitting a high pitch while McGonagall was lecturing. Sirius sent me his best innocent smile, the one where his lips tilt up and his dimples show just a bit, and I swooned on the inside. I frowned, not only at Sirius, but at myself. Best keep those thoughts to myself.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Lexi." Sirius said while using that completely irritating nickname he has chosen for me. Gritting my teeth and sending him a 'don't even go there' look, I turned back around to face the front of the classroom again. I found that McGonagall was sitting up at her desk and was finished lecturing for the day. I looked at Lyla who was still busy taking notes, rolled my eyes, and then looked over to Blair, who also has this class with us. She was idly chewing her gum and making little swirls on her paper with her pen. I stared at her until she looked over at me, then motioned to my pen and paper. She smiled and then turned back to her own paper to write. I watched my paper as it lit up and then light blue writing appeared on it.

_Hey, Alexa. How's it going over there?_

I smiled and muttered an incantation, then turned to write my reply, the green writing scrawling on the parchment.

_**So boring! What's going on over there and do you know if McGonagall says we have homework?**_

_Uh, nope, I couldn't tell you. But I saw you talking to Sirius. He so likes you!_

I rolled my eyes and sent a playful glare over to Blair, who only gestured to the paper where writing was beginning to form.

_Don't even deny that you don't like him. I've seen the way you look at him. It's the same way I look at James._

_**I can't say much about that right at this minute, but I may just give you the details later if you can keep your mouth shut.**_

_Yay! Insert squeal! Okay, that will definitely work. I just looked off Lily's paper (yes I know, kill me now, why do I have to sit with her?) and it seems that no we do not have homework, but there is extra credit. _

_**Huh, well, I shant be doing it. Want to go to the lake after class, Lyla has a prefect meeting. ;) **_

_Definitely, I'll just tell James to come along._

_**Aw, you two are just little love birds. See you after class!**_

_I resent that. See you!_

I looked around the room to see if anyone had spotted our notes, but everyone was engrossed in their work. Shrugging to myself, I folded up the paper and shoved it to the bottom of my bag just as the bell trilled and we were let out of class. I sighed in relief and scooped up my stuff, ready to be done with school for the day. Lyla was already half-way out the door when I looked up, eager to get to her prefects meeting so she could see Remus. I laughed a bit when I saw Lily Evans making her way to the meeting as well, remembering the face Lily had when she found out there had been three prefects this year.

"So, Alexa, anything you want to talk about before we get to the lake?" Blair asked as she walked beside me on the way to drop our stuff off in the Common Room. I smiled wickedly and shook my head no. I waved to Bree, who was sitting next to Travis on a bench beside the window, and she waved back, mouthing that she would talk to us later. Blair huffed as we sat our stuff on the couch we had named ours and turned to leave the room. Her huff turned into a smile as James, and Sirius, walked through the doors. "Hey, James!" She said reaching her arms up to give him a hug. He smiled at her and lifted her up slightly off the ground. Sirius and I stood looking at each other, my legs feeling like they were going to turn to jelly as his silver irises looked at me.

"Hey, Black." I said looking down at my shoes and feeling a blush rise to my cheeks. I watched as his black trainers scuffed the ground a little and his eyes held a bit of laughter in them. He looked at me through his bangs and gave me a crooked smile.

"Hey, Lexi." Sirius quoted. I looked up at anything but his eyes and blushed when his smile turned into a smirk. "So," He dragged out slumping on to a red and yellow upholstered couch where we had sat our bags. "Got any plans for this afternoon?" He asked pulling a stray pen from behind his back with a grimace. I shrugged, biting my lip and sitting a safe distance away from Sirius on the couch.

"Uh, I think we're going to take a walk outside, but James and Blair look like they've already left without me." I sighed and leaned against the couch, wanting to get up and join Blair, but not wanting to be the third wheel. When I looked up, Sirius was sitting closer to me so that our arms were touching. I tried to keep my cool as my heart sped up and my stomach began to _flutter._ What the heck is wrong with me!? Anyways, he leaned closer to me holding out his hands and putting them in my line of vision.

"Lexi, you want to see something interesting?" He asked temptingly and even though I should know better to look, what with Sirius being only the biggest prankster in the school next to James, my curiosity was piqued. I brought his hands closer to me, electricity shooting down my hands and butterflies assaulting my organs as I did so, and tried to peek through his fingers. "Boo!" He yelled opening his hands and causing me to shriek like a little first year. He let out his bark-like laugh and fell backwards against the cushions as I let my heart rate decrease. When I didn't feel like my heart was going to explode, I turned to Sirius gritting my teeth and feeling an evil glint in my eyes. His eyes widened and he got up from the couch, holding out his hands in surrender. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, I didn't mean anything by it."

With an animalistic growl, I jumped from the couch, darting after Sirius as he ran past some first years, the portrait whole, and out into the hall where he ran down the stairs. "I'm going to kill you, Black!" I yelled as I chased him out the door of the front hall and onto the lawn where many older students were moseying around. I saw Sirius run towards the lake where I saw two people sitting under the tree and I followed him. Reaching out and grabbing onto the back of his robes I jumped onto his back. We were right in front of the lake and the people, who turned out to be Blair and James, and I laughed at Sirius as I pulled his hood over his face so he couldn't see. "Say your sorry, Sirius, and I might let you go." Laughing, I turned to look at James and Blair, as well as most of the lawn, and saw that everyone was watching. Some, mostly the people who knew me, were laughing along, Sirius' fan girls were scowling and freaking out, and others just didn't really care.

"Get off me, Lexi!" Sirius muffled voice shouted from under his trappings. Blair and James were laughing as I held on tighter so I wouldn't fall to the ground. My laughter and Sirius' struggling came to an abrupt stop when someone cleared their throat loudly from behind us. I turned Sirius to face the voice and pulled his hood from his head, expecting a teacher, but rolling my eyes when I saw who it was. "What do you want, oh mighty prefect?" I asked sarcastically to Lily Evans. She was standing with her hands on her hips and a permanent scowl etched into her features. Her envious green eyes watched me as I slid from Sirius' back.

"Please try to refrain from mauling your own housemate, Alexa." She told me with a haughty manner. I rolled my eyes and noticed that Lyla, Remus, and _Andy Ablo_ were coming up behind Lily. Blair was suddenly by my side with James, and Blair and Lily commenced a staring contest. Jeez, Lily really needs to loosen up. "Perhaps everyone should just back off, hmm?" Lily announced while fluffing her hair up and turning to face Andy and Remus. "Maybe you should tell your friends to back off, Remus."

Blair huffed and grabbed Lyla's arm, pulling her over beside us to make us look like we were standing in a line-up at jail. "We never asked for a lecture, Lily, so why don't you just go somewhere else." I turned, surprised to find that it was James who had spoken out against Lily, and not Blair.

Lily also looked surprised and we all watched in stunned silence as another one of the famous Lily Evans vs. James Potter dojo began. "Well, excuse me, Potter. Maybe if you and your friends didn't act like heathens all the time, we could actually lead a peaceful life. And sorry if I don't want to see a disgusting example of PDA on the front lawn!" Lily shrieked as her face became red with anger and James rolled his hazel eyes from behind his glasses.

"_My bad_, Ms. Evans, perhaps we should all just follow your perfect little example?" James grabbed Blair's hand and looked _pointedly_ at Lily. "I'm sorry if you're just jealous that I'm over you and with someone better now." There was a collective intake of breath from everyone around us and I noticed that a lot of people had gathered when Lily had begun to shriek. They stared at each other for a tense moment before Lily turned and stomped off, her shoulders slumping slightly. Andy Ablo glared at James, then Blair and the rest of us before kissing Remus and following after Lily. I vaguely heard _slut_ whispered from next to me and let out a snicker as Lyla's face turned red.

"So that was interesting." Sirius said while adjusting his collar and loosening his tie. James narrowed his eyes before letting go of Blair's hand and stalking off, scarring a few first years in the way. Blair looked after him helplessly and I suddenly got the urge to punch a baby, with the name James Potter. Anyways, Remus and Sirius went to go after him, but Remus stopped Sirius with a glare. "I don't think he wants to talk to you, Padfoot. Sometimes you make things worse."

Sirius looked offended and then shrugged. "I resent that." As Remus walked away, he waved over his shoulder and we stood in an awkward silence. I scuffed my shoes on the floor as Blair examined her nails and Lyla coughed. Sirius rocked back and forth on his heels for a minute before clapping his hands. We all looked up and then smiled naturally. "Hum, I've gotta…" Sirius trailed off.

"Yeah, that thing…"

"Something about a bathroom…."

"Great, Food……"

We all separated and walked in different directions. When I had made it back to the common room, we met back at the portrait hole. "So, this is awkward." Lyla said whilst stroking an imaginary beard. We laughed cautiously before Blair's face became animated.

"Let's give Sirius a makeover!" She shouted, grabbing Sirius' muscular biceps, uh, ignore that. She grabbed his _arm_ and pushed him through the portrait hole. "This will be sooo great! Sirius could totally pull off the girly look." She was chattering away as Sirius struggled and protested against her. Lyla and I rolled our eyes and followed behind her as she led the way up to the boys dorms. Not like she's ever been there before or anything, but she opened the door to a clean room and we looked around.

"You guys are _totally _neat freaks!" I shouted accusingly at Sirius, who looked like I had accused him of kicking a dog.

"Yeah, well, you're a girl!" He shouted back and we all oohhed at him.

"Great come back, idiot." Lyla said as she waved her wand in a show of spell work and makeup appeared. "Now, let the make-over begin."

Forty five long, grueling, exhausting minutes later, we stepped back from Sirius and examined our work. "Nice choice on the pink shadow, Lyla." I observed as we held back giggles. Sirius glared at us from his spot on the make-shift holding chair we had fashioned out of bed sheets and a desk chair. We pushed together on the chair to turn it towards the mirror and with great effort we forced Sirius to take a look. When he did he let out a tortured groan.

"Look what you've done to my beautiful face!" He moaned as we unfastened his hands and he reached up to cautiously touch his face.

"It looks even better now, especially since we curled your hair." Blair defended as she tugged on a springy curl from atop his head. He looked close to tears and we laughed at his expense. "Come on, I want to get a picture." Blair said setting the timer on her muggle camera and setting it on the armoire. We smiled and once the flash went off, let Sirius out of his bindings.

"I will get you back for this." He said menacingly. We rolled our eyes as we left the dorms.

"You know you loved it!" I yelled as the door shut.

Good Day.

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AmuletGirl5 Author's Note: Review. Do it, or perish. Lol, I hope that's not too harsh! Anyways, really, seriously, review! That's all for now. Click el button and review! (Hope that's not too redundant also.)

Peace out!


	2. A Day in the Life

-1Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling has just given me the rights……but not to Harry Potter. She's only given me the rights of a restraining order. Is there some way around those?

Amuletgirl5's Author's Note: Hey everyone! Sorry for the slow update but I've been away for two weeks, doing charity work in Haiti. But now I'm back and I'm updating! So be happy you ungrateful little sods! I'm just kidding though! Thanks for all the reviews and we hope to have more for the next chapter. So without further ado, Enjoy!

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A Day in the Life of a Potion's Master

Lyla's Point of View

Walking to potions with Blair and James was frankly, a little nauseating. Partly because they were all over each other like twenty-four hours a day but honestly, I was a little jealous. Part of me wants to be like Blair. I want to be with someone who wants me. But of course, with my luck, I like a boy who not only doesn't seem to like me but is dating another girl, who just happens to be the epitome of evil. I mean even her name, Andy Ablo, sounds evil. I mean, seriously , who names their child Andy when your last name is Ablo? What does she have that I don't? A bitchy attitude, mediocre looks, and tiny horns hidden underneath her uncontrollably, curly hair. I just can't stand her! She is such a ……..

"Hey Lyla."

I broke out of my thoughts to find Remus and the devil herself speaking to me as they passed by. She had this sort of deranged killer smile on her face as she waved like a pageant princess. Where as Remus was looking straight down at his black, school shoes. "Hey, Andy." I said to her but I might as well have been talking to a wall because she completely ignored me and turned the corner. I wasn't going to let her get to me, no way.

Alexa was already waiting for us at the door to the dungeon, which was surprising because she was always late. "Hey guys, what's up?" She asked us as we neared closer to where she was standing next to Sirius. I winked at her as we caught up to her. She and Sirius had gotten quite close after the 'make-over experience.' Well, as close as you can be to one of Hogwarts resident playboys.

"Oh, I know this one! The sky!" Blair practically shouted at us. Alexa and I looked at each other and walked away into the potion's dungeon. "I know I'm right." We faintly heard Blair shout as James put his arm around her and she grew silent.

"Wow," Alexa said as we found our seats, "We have some awesome friends." Slughorn entered the classroom nonchalantly and explained to us our new assignment for today's class. We were to do a simple forgetfulness potion with our new partners. I watched as Alexa rolled her eyes and went to sit in the back of the classroom with Sirius and the rest of Marauders. Blair was paired with Bree, and I was unfortunately paired with the she-devil. Or commonly known as Lily. I watched as Slughorn snuck silently out of the classroom. Oookay. While I was stirring the potion I noticed that Lily was passing notes with Andy Ablo.

When Andy passed it back, I accidentally looked over Lily's shoulder and read the note. The note was about Blair. I noticed the word woman of the night describing Blair and made a noise of objection. Lily spun quickly, whipping my face with her red hair. "Excuse me!" Lily shrieked at me. I was so startled that I fell backwards in my chair. I stuttered as I got off the floor and dusted myself off. I had gained some attention when I fell, but I wasn't really paying attention.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to. But since we're on the subject, I don't really appreciate you calling my friend derogatory words." I told her all of this in my sugary sweet voice and an even sweeter smile. Lily bristled and stood from her chair with a vengeance.

"Well, if your friend wasn't such a huge slut, I wouldn't have to talk about her." She turned her back to me to smile at Andy and I seethed. At that moment, an overwhelming sense of rage came over me. I slowly raised my wand and muttered the first charm that came into my mind. Before I knew it, Lily was no longer sitting in her chair. Well technically Lily was still in her chair but now she was a frog.

"Lyla, what happened?" Alexa asked me as she made her way towards the scene. I couldn't even speak. All I could do was sit there and stare at Andy trying to catch the jumping frog-Lily. I am going to get in so much trouble! "Well done Lyla! That was bloody brilliant." Sirius said patting me on my back. I noticed that Andy had caught Lily and was now stomping angrily towards me.

"Andy, I didn't mean to….." I stopped speaking because Andy was getting a huge spoon full of my potion and threw it at me. It was all over me, some even got in Alexa's hair who was standing behind me. I turned around to find Alexa with the potion soaking into her hair. She had her 'you are going to wish you were never born' face on. And one thing you don't do is mess with my sister, or her hair. "I guess it is time for you to wash your hair." Andy said with a smug look on her face.

Alexa procured some of my potion in her hand and violently lunged over the chair towards Andy. Before Alexa could do any real damage to Andy, Sirius had carried Alexa to the side of the desk and was restraining her. I noticed in the corner of the room that somebody had actually changed Lily back into her human form. She was charging at me like a bull, and was getting ready to hit me when Blair came in front of me to block her. Lily dodged Blair and bumped into the table, causing the contents of the cauldron to fall onto the floor and all over Lily.

The room was dead silent as no one dared to speak. Half the people were shocked with their mouths wide open; I was one of them. Lily slowly got up from the ground, she scoped some of the potion off her face and at first just stood there. Next, she made a movement so fast that nobody really saw what happened. All I know is that one minute I'm fine, the next I'm covered in a sticky goo, and so was Blair. Then everyone realized what had happened and…..all hell broke loose.

Potions were flying left and right, Blair and Lily were dueling, James was dunking some poor kids head into a cauldron, and Sirius and Alexa were launching potion bombs at everyone and each other. The whole scene was quite humorous until, as luck would have it, Slughorn decided to saunter back into the room. The look on his face made more than one person stop until we were all standing in a sticky mess. "Who is responsible for this disaster?" Slughorn asked, his mouth hanging open like a fish and his belly moving with each breath. No one said anything, and I thought about just giving myself up.

Alexa must have known what I was thinking, because she shook her head vigorously to tell me not to say anything. "Fine, if no one is willing to talk, then all of you will have detention and 50 points taken from your house." Slughorn smiled jovially as almost everyone immediately pointed at Blair, Andy, Lily, and myself. "Well, then you four will be receiving a detention and losing points from your houses."

"Professor," I heard and saw Alexa walking towards Professor Slughorn, "I was involved as well."

"Me too!" Sirius piped in as Alexa rolled her eyes.

"Well, I should have know that you had something to do with it, Mr. Black." Slughorn rolled his eyes and swung around so his stomach knocked over an unsuspecting student. "And if Mr. Black had something to do with it, I am almost certain Mr. Potter played some part as well."

"Guilty." James said with a smile on his face. Those Marauders sure do enjoy getting and making trouble. James and Sirius were both looking at Remus. They were motioning him to speak up. Remus just acted like he couldn't understand them, while a smile snuck onto his lips. "Remus did it too!" Sirius yelled out, pointing an accusing finger at Remus who sent him a stern look.

"Mr. Lupin, is Mr. Black here correct?" Remus was hesitant at first, but then finally slumped and gave in. "Yes, Professor, Mr. Black is correct." Slughorn just shook his head in disappointment. Then he turned his attention to us. "You will all report to my office at 7:00. Mr. Potter, I will not tolerate tardiness." Slughorn then turned to face the rest of the class. "Now, all of you report to your dormitories, clean yourself up, and return to the Great Hall for lunch." He sighed as he walked over to his desk. "Class dismissed, we'll try again tomorrow."

By the time we had all washed the ten pounds of potion our hair we were starving and ready for some delicious treats. When we came down from our dormitory we found James sleeping on one of the couches and Sirius playing wizard chess with himself.

"Huh-hum" I coughed while smiles beamed on mine, Blair, and Alexa's faces. James shot up with a panicked look on his face and wiped the remaining drool off his face. Sirius didn't even look up. He mumbled something under his breath that I couldn't make out and then coolly said, "Check mate." He finally got up off the couch and turned to face us.

"Could you stop playing with yourself for just a few minutes? Some of us are really hungry." Alexa said with a slight smirk on her face. "Well, _Lexi_, I'm not the one who has been up in my dorm for almost two hours unsuccessfully trying to make myself look good." Sirius retorted.

Alexa turned around and stomped off pulling Blair and me with her. All during lunch Alexa could talk about nothing but how Sirius Black was the scum of the earth, an ungrateful prat, and the fact that if she ever had to be in the same room with him ever again, she would throw him out the nearest window. I personally couldn't wait till they were together during detention.

Finally the time came for us to pay the time for our crime. When Alexa, Blair, and I arrived at Slughorn's room we found Andy and Lily already sitting at a desk giving us a pathetic death stare and Slughorn sitting behind his desk eating candied pineapple.

We slowly made our way to the desk farthest away from Andy and Lily. After we had been sitting a while I looked down at my watch and saw that it was already 7:10 and there was still no sign of any of the Marauders.

Suddenly the door busted open and first in, walked Remus who went to sit with Andy, then came James who was practically running in, and last in came Sirius with his hair messed up more than usual and his unbuttoned shirt coming out of his unbuckled pants.

"Sorry I was late Professor. I had a previous engagement that took a little longer than I expected." Sirius said shooting a look at us. We all knew what he meant by "previous engagement". "Pig," Alexa whispered to me.

"Well that's quite alright Mr. Black. You, Mr. Potter, and Mr. Lupin will just have to stay an extra ten minutes." James let out a loud groan. "Please take a seat Mr. Black so you and your fellow students can begin serving your punishment. Sirius moseyed over and squeezed in between me and Alexa.

"You disgust me," Alexa said to him as he sat down buckling his pants. "Don't be jealous, there's plenty of Sirius to go around," Sirius responded winking at Alexa. "Oh, you sick freak!" Alexa spat back at him.

"Okay students, today you will be cleaning out all of the old cauldrons. I will put you into pairs and give you all the necessary supplies. I will give each pair five cauldrons to clean. James and Lily, you will be paired up." Lily looked at Blair and gave this kind of demonic kind of look.

"Blair, you will be paired up with Andy. Sirius you will be with, let's see…" Slughorn trailed off looking at his list. "Please not me, please not me," Alexa was chanting to herself with her fingers crossed.

"You will be with Alexa." Slughorn's words seemed to hit Alexa like a thousand throwing knives. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" Alexa screamed at the top of her lungs. "Miss Parker I will have to ask you to refrain from screaming like a banshee in my classroom," Slughorn said sternly to Alexa.

"Professor, I am sorry but, can I please have a different partner? Or I could work alone, I'm perfectly fine with that," Alexa pleaded to Slughorn. "I'm sorry Alexa but you are to work with Mr. Black for the evening." Slughorn took a bite of his candied pineapple and Alexa sat back down.

Sirius opened his mouth to say something but Alexa cut him off, "Black, if you speak to me, I swear, you will not be able to breathe on your own ever again." Sirius snapped his mouth shut and didn't say anything.

"So that leaves Mr. Lupin with Ms. Lyla Parker." I glanced over at Remus who looked less than happy to be paired with me. "So get to it. The sooner you get done the sooner you can get out of here."

We all went up to Slughorn's desk and got our cleaning supplies and headed over to our cauldrons. I watched as Alexa pushed Sirius back into his chair, telling him that if he touched any of their cleaning supplies or did anything to annoy her she would make sure all of his little rendezvous were impossible. He swallowed audibly and sat silently as she worked. I heard a laugh next to me and looked over to Remus, who was blushing slightly and looking down at his cauldron. I rolled my eyes and decided that this was going too slowly. "She really does like him, you know." I couldn't believe the words that had just spewed out of my mouth, but I had evidently done something right, for Remus smiled brilliantly at me.

"It's not too obvious unless you pay attention." Remus regarded them for a moment and laughed again as Alexa slapped down Sirius arm that was draping itself over her chair. "Don't tell him I told you this, but he really has a thing for her too. He's not such a bad person if you get to know him." Remus turned his golden eyes to me and my breath caught slightly in my throat. He had beautiful eyes. I hadn't noticed we were staring at each other until he looked away shyly. I cleared my throat, and he took that as a symbol to go on. "He's just had a tough life, you know, and he expresses himself a little wildly at times."

"Sometimes people don't know how to express themselves, so they do it in the only way they know how." I said while looking down at my cauldron nervously. I scrubbed viciously at a stain in the bottom of my stupid cauldron as I spoke again. "Some people just don't express themselves at all and then the person has nothing to talk about to anyone, then they end up alone and by themselves, being cat ladies and dying at 100." I was out of breath by the time I had stopped speaking and the spot at the bottom of the cauldron had been scrubbed so hard that it was beginning to erode.

I turned to look at Remus, who was staring at me with a bemused expression on his face. I blushed violently and walked over to the sink where we were told to rinse our cauldrons when we finished. My hands were shaking as I rinsed the first cauldron, being sure not to rinse the spot where I had scrubbed to hard into a decimated pile of waste. "So, are you afraid that you'll be like that one day?" I heard as Remus pushed his shirt sleeves up to his elbows, revealing his muscled arms. I sighed, and was happy to see that he thought it was just about my little outburst.

"I sure hope not, I hope to be married with lots of little kids running around my house. With a husband to come home and smile at me, and with someone to eat with every night. I want to be in love, you know?" I shrugged and dried the cauldron off. "At least, that's what my parents were like so that's what I want." I looked over to where Alexa was trying her hardest not to laugh at Sirius as he concentrated on his work, his brow furrowed and his tongue poking slightly out of his mouth. "I used to think that Alexa would be the one to never settle, you know, but I'm not so sure anymore."

We walked back to the desk to start work on our other cauldrons. My gaze kept drifting to the other tables, where everyone seemed to be doing okay. Finally, when the silence was beginning to get weird I asked another question. "How do you see yourself settled with someone?" I noticed as Remus' hand stiffened on his cauldron, and he dropped the rag inside. "Unless you know you don't want to be settled…" I trailed off, backpedaling. His posture only loosened a bit but when he spoke his tone was nonchalant.

"I don't think I'll ever fall in love, and I'm not sure I want a family." He stated simply. I felt like my heart was breaking for him, and was going to ask him why when a loud curse shook the room. We all turned silently as Alexa stood shaking at Sirius, who was glaring at her. The cauldron on the table was steaming and a weird fog was beginning to form around the room.

"I'll ask only one more time, Black, what the _hell _did you do to that cauldron?" Alexa began to stalk forwards toward Sirius who stood his ground defiantly.

"I did nothing at all, Parker, so I don't see why the blame is suddenly always on me." Sirius put his hands on his hip in a very girly, but menacing way. "Why don't you take that pole out of your ass and loosen up?" That must have been the last straw because Alexa lunged forward and pushed Sirius to the ground, sitting on top of him and fuming.

"Black, I will freaking kill you!" Alexa shouted and she raised her fists, about to bring them back down when there was an explosion that echoed in the room. As soon as the smoke cleared, Sirius and James looked to each other with gleeful expressions. "That was bloody awesome!" Most of us laughed as Alexa leaned her head in her hands on Sirius' stomach and burst into tears. "Can't my life just be normal!" She shouted to the ceiling very dramatically. I rolled my eyes at her as Slughorn rose from his desk for the first time that night.

"It's all just a day in the life of a potion's master, Ms. Parker." Slughorn stated, rubbing his stomach. "Oh, and I will expect you all to be here again for detention tomorrow." We all groaned simultaneously. Alexa glared once more at Sirius.

"I love you, Lexi."

Sweet Merlin, It was going to be a long night.

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BabyBlueEyes10's Author's Note: Hello Kittens! I hope that you enjoyed your second chapter, written by amuletgirl5. Please don't forget to press that little button and review, review, review! Any questions, comments, or (I hope not) flames will be answered so don't be shy! Love you all!

Peach out!


	3. Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eater

Disclaimer: If we owned Harry Potter, we wouldn't be writing on this site. What we would be doing is traveling to Europe and cruising the Mediterranean.

**Baby Blue Eyes 10's **Author Note: Hello, Poppet's! Sorry for the unbearably long wait for the third chapter! Please forgive me for shirking my duties and not updating for you lovely people. I would also like to say that were it not for AmuletGirl5, this probably would _not_ be completed. Anyways, I would like to ask you all for some feedback if you read. We only have a few reviews, but lots of people read the story and I need to know if you guys like our story or not. Any questions, comments, or flames will be answered. (Although, flames will mostly be used for roasting marshmallows!) So anyways, just read the story and review please?

Song for the Chapter: Infatuation, by Maroon 5 (I recomend you listen to this while reading. It's a great song for the chapter!)

"_Infatuation, not seeing the rest of you is getting the best of me._

_It's such a shame that you shot me down, would've been nice to be around. _

_I'm touching your skin; if it's only a fantasy, then why is it killing me?_

_And I guess this must be…..Infatuation."_

* * *

_You Cheater, Cheater, Pumpkin Eater_

_Alexa's Point o' View_

Darkness fell over our shoulder's as Blair and I descended down to the common room late on Friday night. "Damn!" I spat as I stubbed my toe on a _very _wooden chair leg. Blair stifled a giggle and I shot her a glare but I smiled to make sure she understood that I was joking. Why were we sneaking down to the Common room so late? Well, we had a reason of course, and what a reason it was. So you see, Lyla came back from prefects meeting tonight with such a smile on her face that we instantly knew that something was up. The thing is that she wouldn't tell us what she was smiling about. So, instead of pestering her, Blair and I made a secret plan that we were going to find out what was going on, no matter what.

Later, when Lyla snuck out of the dorms, we followed and that's how we ended up in the common room at around 1:30 in the morning. The problem now is that we don't know where she ended up at. "What are we going to do, Blair, she could be anywhere in the school?" I sighed and flopped down onto a chair, immediately jumping out of it when I felt something move underneath me. "Who _is _that?" I whispered frantically while Blair pulled me to the back of the chair.

"I don't know. What if it's some kind of crazy person asleep in our common room?" Blair started to ring out her hands and then her face paled considerably. "What if it's a ghost?" The thing is, Blair is completely afraid of ghosts or anything in the astral world. I smiled slightly and laughed at her.

"It's obviously not a ghost because it was solid when I landed on it. Plus, I don't think that it would be a crazy person because we have passwords." I paused when the sleeping figure on the chair sighed. Lowering my voice, I continued speaking. "It has to be one of the people in Gryffindor. And I'm pretty sure that it's a guy because they had a pretty sturdy build." Together we glanced over the top of the chair's back and my eyes widened as I realized who exactly _was _lying on that chair. "Oh, sweet Merlin, Blair. It's Sirius Black."

I turned to see Blair's eyes widen dramatically then she hid back behind the chair. "You wake him up, Alex, he might have seen Lyla run out of here." She encouraged and I stared at her blankly. "Well, it's not like he's that heavy of a sleeper. One time, James and I snuck up to the dorms and he was asleep. So we thought…" She was about to continue when I clamped a hand over her overactive mouth. She glared at me and her eyes held an evil glint to them.

"No, B, if you lick me I'll cut your tongue off." The evil glint in her eye was immediately replaced by a slightly apologetic look and I tried to smile. "I don't particularly want to wake up Sleeping Beauty over here. Do you remember what happened last time we actually spoke." I asked her, trying to convey with my eyes the remembrance of our last detention, which had happened over 5 days ago. Needless to say, these last few days have been trying. Especially since we've been hanging around with James, Sirius, and Remus a lot lately. Sigh. I lifted my hand off of Blair's mouth and she sighed wearily. We proceeded in an intense stare off and then I rolled my eyes. "We're loosing time. Lyla could be half-way around the world by now!" Sure, I was exaggerating, but what's the big deal. I really was curious as to where my oldest sister had gone.

Finally, Blair got off the floor and crawled her way around to the front. I peeked around the corner, stifling laughter as I saw B kneeling in front of Sirius and blowing in his face. So _this_ was her big plan to wake him up? It's never going to work, no one in the world is that light of a sleeper. While Blair blew her lungs out all over Sirius' face (which I'm sure was not that pleasant), I got up from the place on the floor and walked over to where Sirius' head was located. Grabbing onto those precious raven locks, I twirled a piece around my finger and pulled. Hard. Like someone had set a fire to him, or pulled his hair in this case, Sirius launched himself into an upright position and put his hand to his head in a desperate attempt to ward off the bad guy. Or girl in this case.

I laughed and noticed with some relief that I hadn't done anything to his person. "What the bloody hell, Alexa?" Sirius asked sounding hurt, confused, and angry. I shrugged my shoulders and stared into his deep gray eyes. As we watched each other, I had the overwhelming urge to tackle him off his chair and have my way with him. Right here in the common room…….

What the hell?! Where did that come from? I physically shook my head, trying to rid myself of this sudden feeling, and I mentally slapped myself. Focus on the goal here, Alexa, which is _not_ ravaging Black in the Common Room. Gosh, what was _wrong _with me? Noticing that Blair and Sirius were watching me, I took a step back from the chair and straightened my shirt. Then I cleared my throat and opened my mouth to speak. "I can't believe I'm telling you this, but we need your help." I said gesturing between Blair and myself. I watched as Sirius seemed to contemplate on the matter and then looked at the both of us.

"I'm intrigued. Please, continue." He waved his hand forward toward the middle of us and Blair immediately elaborated. "Well, so it all starts around dinner when Lyla came back from her prefects meeting. I guess, technically, it would have been dessert, because the meeting was running a little late." Blair paused, and Sirius and I exchanged a glance. "Anyways, she got back all happy and the like, but it's like she's on lockdown because she wouldn't tell us _anything_. Naturally, we were curious and so we asked her about it. But she wouldn't answer and just kept blushing and blushing. Then she just hopped on her bed and closed the curtains."

Finished with her mini-speech, Blair smiled happily and before she could start another long, but informative, rendition of what happened next, I stepped over. "So later she just climbed out of her bed, thinking everyone was asleep. But we weren't so Blair and I followed her. The point to needing your help is that we took to long putting clothes on and the like and so now we've gone and lost her." Sirius smiled slyly and looked over to Blair.

"You know about the map." He stated and Blair blushed slightly. I just tried to look like I knew what he was talking about as he stood up from his position and took a step closer to where Blair and I were seated. "I think I can be of service, as long as there's a payment at the end." He looked straight at me as he said this, and I blushed a very deep shade of raspberry. See, I don't even get to blush crimson, how dumb is that? "Let me just pop up to the dorms. Ladies." Sirius said as he bowed regally and sauntered towards the stairs. I watched till he was out of sight and then turned to Blair.

Picking at the frayed hole in my jeans, I asked Blair the question I was confused about. "What's 'the map?'" Blair smiled and pulled my hand away from messing up my jeans even more. She checked the boy's stairs before starting her story, making sure that no outsider would understand what was going on. "Well, it's this map of the school that the Marauders made during their 3rd year here. It's a map of secret passageways and everything. It's so freaking cool!" Blair said getting excited with her last few words. I felt my mouth drop in surprise and astonishment. They had a map of the _whole _school?

"Are you serious? Tell me you aren't serious." I said while I tried to wrap my mind around the fact that they had a map of everything in and around the school. Blair nodded and I encouraged her to continue. "Details, B, I need details!"

"Okay. Let's see here, oh, well James told me that they keep the map under lock at all times, unless they're using it, so that no one steals it. That could potentially be disastrous." While launching into her story, Blair had begun to twirl her golden brown layers that were falling out of her ponytail. "Oh, and James also told me that there must _always_ be a Marauder present if the map is going to be used. So we aren't breaking any rules with using a Marauder's secret and that's always a good thing." We looked at each other and grinned largely as Sirius came pounding back down the boys stairs.

"Everyone ready to go?" Sirius asked and I noticed that he had thrown on some jeans and a t-shirt, plus a jacket. We watched him strangely but he only gathered us towards the couch and sat in the middle of us. Unfolding the map, he pulled his wand out with a flourish. "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good." I watched him questioningly, not being able to contain my gasp when blood-red lettering began to scroll across the page.

"Messer's Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs proudly present to you, the Marauder's Map." I read off in an astonished voice. Then something clicked in my mind. "Moony as in Remus, Wormtail as in…..Peter maybe, Padfoot is you, and Prongs is James!" Sirius looked over to me and grinned widely, showing off his pearly whites. "Blair, look the dots are moving!" Blair gasped and pulled the map out of Sirius' hands, leaving the boy to huff and pout adorably, and then she flipped a few pages until she reached a section labeled _Gryffindor Common Room._ I recognized Sirius' handwriting and then Blair threw the map excitedly.

"Holy Merlin, Black! Those dots were us!" She shrieked and I tumbled off the couch. My head hit the ground with a thump and my vision exploded with stars. "Oh, Alexa, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" Blair asked as she scrambled off the couch to sit on the ground next to me. I tried to wave her off and mumbled something about being perfectly find, but she persisted. "Sirius get her up, she's too heavy for me." I huffed at Blair and she smiled sheepishly. Sirius extended his hand towards me and I grabbed it graciously, trying not to notice the fact that it was warm and how much I wished I could hold his hand without him being told to help me.

"Thanks a lot." I mumbled as he let go of my hand and I put my hand back at my side. I watched his mouth form the words, but I never actually heard him say, 'No problem.' Well, so much for not being distracted by Sirius Black. Anyways, the next thing I know is that I'm being hauled out of the Common Room and into the hallway following Blair who had taken off with the map. With Sirius towing behind me, I followed closely as Blair lit her wand and took us through a passageway I had never known existed. "I don't know how you did all of this, Sirius, but this is pretty awesome." I said as we traveled through a dirt tunnel and out of Hogwarts.

"We're underneath the bookstore in Hogsmeade now." Sirius told us after he had snatched the map away from Blair and we'd been traveling for about 5 minutes. "Come on, we're almost to the end of the tunnel and then we need to go to the Shrieking Shack. That's where Lyla's dot is." I sensed Blair stiffen from behind me and knew she was thinking about the ghosts that 'haunted' the Shack. Which was a load of bull because there were _no_ ghosts in that shack. I turned around and caught Blair's eye, conveying my confusion to her without words. Why would Lyla be at the Shrieking Shack?

"I thought you said the map only went around Hogwarts?" I whispered to Blair while falling into step behind her and still trying to keep an eye on Sirius so we wouldn't get lost. I felt her shrug beside me and then look up at me. I looked back down at her and blew my hair out of my face with an annoyed expression. Blair laughed and flipped her hair back with ease, making the move fun and laid back while when I did it, I looked like I was having some sort of fit.

"I didn't know that it went into Hogsmeade, but I guess since it does we should take advantage of it." I nodded along as she continued. "I mean what if there was, for some strange reason, a teacher out here tonight. It'd probably be a good idea to have the map so we know what areas to avoid and what not." She was rambling on as I walked ahead of her, trying to keep up with Sirius who was getting strangely uncomfortable and tense. As I was trying to catch up with him, I hadn't noticed the fact that he had stopped in front of me, so I ran into the back of him, sending us both sprawling on the floor.

I sat for a moment, trying to gather my bearings and then suddenly realized that this was the second time I had pinned Sirius to the ground in the past few days. While I was mentally applauding myself for the lovely display of powerfulness, I stopped and looked down at Sirius, who was leaning forward on his elbows and studying me with a slightly confused look that mirrored my own. As we stared at each other for the longest moment I have ever experienced, Blair noticed our absence and had called out our names. "Right here." I called back, not enjoying the breathless quality that my voice had taken. Before Blair rounded what must have been a corner, Sirius sat up quickly so I was in his lap and then he hoisted me in the air and to my feet.

We jumped away from each other so quickly that we were standing almost at the opposite walls when Blair came back into view. She took one look between us, rolled her eyes, and lit her wand. "I don't know what's going on, but let's finish it later so we can find Lyla and get out of here. I'm starting to get the creeps." I sighed with relief that she wasn't going to pester us like most people and I followed her as Sirius led us up a ladder. Blair and I gasped together as we entered what had to be Honeyduke's cellar. "Crazy cool, how'd you know this was here?" Blair asked at the same time as I exclaimed, "This is amazing!"

Sirius laughed as he took us up the stairs and then into the main part of the store, where the owner glanced at Sirius with a large smile. "Sirius, m'boy, I didn't expect you back so soon." Sirius colored as the store owner, who was sporting the name tag Chip, smiled knowingly. Exchanging a glance with Blair, I was positive I didn't want to know who he'd brought with him last time. "But, I didn't really think you were the kind to…" Chip dragged out and I just now understood what he was implying.

"No!" I shrieked, almost like I was in pain. Not wanting Chip to think I was a tart, or that I like to have _threesomes_ with Black, I tried to fix my original no. "I mean, uh, no that's not how this is." I corrected myself as Chip, Blair, and Sirius watched me. Finally after standing in silence, Chip smacked his hands together and started to shuffle us out the door.

"Come on, can't have you all in here too long. I wouldn't want any of the teachers to drop by unexpectedly and catch me harboring their students." He and Sirius exchanged looks, and I realized that this must have happened before, then Chip switched the OPEN sign to CLOSED and smiled at us. "I'll leave the back door unlocked so you can get back in. Have a pleasant night!" Blair waved happily as he shut the door and we began to walk down the street. I felt Sirius' gaze on me, but I didn't turn around until we were about halfway to the shack. His gaze still hadn't strayed completely, going from me to the map, and as Blair rambled on endlessly, I turned my stare on him.

"What are you staring at?" I somewhat shouted (which I seemed to be doing a lot today,) as I cut Blair off in mid-ramble and Sirius raised an eyebrow on me. "I'd really like to know what you find so interesting that you've had to stare at my back for the past few blocks." The other eyebrow had risen as I had explained and now Blair had just rolled her eyes and walked away, up towards the Shrieking Shack by herself. With just Sirius and I on the path, I felt some kind of anticipation building up inside me. I couldn't explain what it was, but it was starting to get on my _last nerve. _

Sirius shrugged his shoulders quickly and then his eyes lit up. I could have _sworn _that I saw a light bulb light up above his head, but I could never be exactly sure. I wouldn't put it past him to not pull something like that though. Anyways, walking closer to me, Sirius lowered his voice to what I'm sure he thought was a seductive voice. Not that it wasn't or anything, I just didn't want him to know that. As I thought about what he could do with that voice, my face reddened. "Maybe I just like to admire your backside. Did you ever think of that?" It was my turn to shrug as he continued to walk closer to me. When my back hit a tree, I knew I was cornered and that I should run while I still could. Unfortunately, my legs were like lead and I couldn't move even if I had wanted too.

"Shouldn't we be looking for Lyla?" I asked feebly, trying to get out of the whole that I had buried myself in because I had let him get this close to me. Why couldn't I just have a good time with Sirius without having to get into some sort of fight with him, or have something like this happen? Was in inevitable for us to always cross paths like this or was it just fate stepping in? I decided that I didn't like either of those options and that I would kindly forget about that. Sirius laughed quietly as he put both hands over my shoulders and on the tree trunk, locking me in place but never actually touching me.

"Oh, she's with Remus so it's not like she's in any danger. I predict that Blair will just walk in on them talking or something and then come back to look for us." I wondered what the 'or something' could be and then flushed. I really hoped Lyla was having a good time, either way that is. My breathing became a bit spastic as Sirius leaned in so his face was only about 3 inches away from mine and my heartbeat sped up. "Now, I'd like for you to answer a question for me. Why are you so opposed to being my date? You practically blanched at the idea when Chip said something."

Was it just me or did he sound slightly…upset? "I- Well, it's not really the _thought _-- I just don't know," I stammered and then closed my eyes to set the words straight in my mind. I kept my eyes closed as I talked so I wouldn't have to gaze into his piercing gray eyes that were practically throwing heat out. "I can't be the kind of girl who just puts out for someone they aren't going to be in a relationship with. That's just not who I am, so it's not really you, but the potential for disaster that comes with being with you." I heaved a deep breath, but didn't open my eyes. Listening for the sound of Sirius moving away, getting angry or something, I almost jumped out of my skin when I felt his hand under my chin.

I opened my eyes to stare straight into those smoldering gray irises and I was surprised to see the smile on his handsome face. "I never said I wanted you to 'put out', Lexie. I just want one," he leaned in, the smell of his skin intoxicating me, "Itty-bitty," He tilted my chin up higher, bringing his lips so close to mine, "kiss." Before he could completely get the word out, I had brought my lips up to meet his, not being able to contain what I had been feeling all night. He seemed surprised at first, but that didn't stop him from responding with what I'm sad to say, but not that terribly sad, was a practiced ease.

Plunging my hand into his silky hair, that I had pulled earlier tonight (how long ago that felt), I brought my other hand up around his neck. He moved his lips teasingly as he backed me further into the tree, leaving no room for anything between us. Not even a breath of air. I wish I could say it was a branch poking into my back that made me arch, but when Sirius brushed his long fingers over my spine, I had forgotten all pretenses about pretending to not stand the boy.

As he skirted his tongue around the top and bottom of my lips, the corners, and everywhere except my actual mouth, I lost my patience and wrapped my right leg around his lean waist. If I had surprised him, he didn't show it but he did snake his tongue into my mouth finally and my breath hitched. I felt that hand that wasn't wrapped in my hair slide over my arse and down the leg that wasn't currently wrapped around him. Then, the next thing I know, my left leg's being lifted around him and I'm being supported my the tree and his arms only.

Before my lungs collapsed from lack of oxygen, Sirius had removed his lips and then kissing me once, twice, three times. He attacked my throat and I laughed slightly, once again burying my hands in his hair. As I played with the hair at the base of his neck he wrapped his arms tighter around me and moved on to my collar bone, which was slightly visible by my t-shirt. While I brought his lips back up to mine in a kiss that should have been illegal and may have been, Sirius had ran his hands around to my stomach and was slowly pushing the pads of his fingers and his palm into my sides. Underneath my t-shirt. And the funny thing was, I continued to let him until I heard myself moan.

Ripping our lips apart, we looked at each other with wide eyes and then I saw Blair, Lyla, and Remus over his shoulder. As I tried to get my breathing back under control, I realized how bad our situation suddenly looked. My hair had fallen out of its ponytail, my legs were _locked_ around Sirius' waist, his hands were up my t-shirt (which was almost over my head), and I had a trail of reddish marks traveling down my neck. Sirius looked somewhat better, but his hair was in a disarray and his lips were badly swollen from where I _may _have bitten him. Not knowing if Sirius knew we had an audience, I pushed his hands off my body and rolled my shirt back down. With his help I got my legs to unwrap and got shakily back to the ground and real life.

"Well, that was unexpected." I heard Remus say and I felt tears spring to my eyes. What had I just done? Taking one last look at Sirius, who looked at me somewhat guiltily, I took off running down the street. I knew I was fleeing like a baby, and I was 16 years old, but right now I really wanted my mommy. I heard shouts from behind me, and then feet pounding on the dirt path, then yelling (by Lyla to Sirius, it seemed), and I was being grabbed from behind. Curse Blair and for her playing softball in the summer!

"Alex, slow down and let's wait for Lyla. We'll sort this out because it seems like you and Lyla were both productive tonight." I glanced at Blair shyly, not wanting her to think of me badly, and she smiled slyly. So Remus and Lyla must have been doing that 'or something' Sirius had mentioned. Well, no one liked Andy Ablo anyways. Lyla came sprinting down the stairs and once again, I envied the fact that she had played soccer all summer and was so fast. Note to self: Join a club or at least do some exercising this year.

"I think we both have a lot of explaining to do." Lyla said as she smiled at me, letting me know that what I had done wasn't some big crime like I thought it was. I tried to smile back at her and noticed that I could smile now without having to have them think I was some kind of bad guy. Blair clapped her hands together and we all three locked arms, falling into step with each other and matching our steps perfectly, the way friends do when they've known each other forever. I sighed while I tried to calm myself down. I was still so riled up from Sirius. What was I, infatuated with him? I couldn't be. I sighed once more while Blair and Lyla sighed with me.

"It would seem we do, Lucy."

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**AmuletGirl5's **Author Note: Hola senors y senoritas! I want to say thank you for keeping this story under ones that you read, especially during this long wait. Ahem, thanks to my co-worker/best friend Babyblueeyes10. Anyways, please review to this chapter that she has worked extra hard on. I even made her make it extra long for you! I hope you love me! Ha-ha! So, please just leave us some feedback so we don't have to crawl under our bed covers and cry ourselves to sleep at night. We love all of you fancy people, so don't forget that! I'm going to let you go now, before I get to repetitive!

P.S: Bonus points to whoever gets the TV show reference. Even if they didn't have this show at the time. (I wouldn't know for sure!)

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	4. Girl, Please and a Breakfast Brunch

-1Disclaimer: We obviously don't own anything Harry Potter, because if we did, we would be sitting on a beach on our own private island sipping strawberry daiquiris and being fed bon-bons by our cabana boys Juan and Raul.

Authors Note: Hey!! AmuletGirl5 here. Well, I am finally able to put up my glorious chapter after having to wait a century because my dear, dear friend BabyBlueEyes10, has the attention span of a toothpick.

(I resent that! Oh, hey, it's BabyBlueEyes!)

So yeah, that's my rant for the day. Well, I hope you utterly enjoy this little delicious literary snack!! Bon appetite(sp)!

* * *

_Oh, Bitch, Please! And I'd like that with a side of Toast_

_Lyla's Point of View:_

"Come on, Lyla! This is clearly a big, freaking deal!" Alexa called as she chased me down the hallway. We were finally back to the castle, without running into any teachers (thank Merlin!), and I really didn't want to talk about what had just gone on in the Shrieking Shack. So, it had all went down hill after Remus had kissed me. Yup, I was not the one who initiated all of this, but I didn't stop it either. I felt bad for Blair who had to come in while we were snogging, although, she seemed to be taking everything okay. Then again, it is Blair and she doesn't really take heart to any of the things that happen to her. Lucky girl. Even though she seemed to let it go, my adoring sister definitely did not.

I whipped around to face her and she took a step back. I guess I looked really angry, I'll try to tone it down. "What about you and Sirius? That was clearly a big deal too." Alexa shut her mouth and we glared at each other, but I wasn't finished. "Do you want to explain why you were wrapped around him like some kind of, of, woman of the night?" I was practically shouting at this point. Alexa and Blair looked a wee bit shocked at the fact that I was blowing up like a bomb right in front of them. This definitely was knew for me; I generally wasn't an angry person. I just continued to glare at my dear sister, waiting for her to answer.

"Um, well, that is completely not relevant. Don't try to change the subject, I want answers and I want them now," Alexa stammered, quickly trying to change the subject herself. I could see in her eyes that she knew damn well that I was not going to just forget that I found my sister passionately wrapped around the Play Boy of Hogwarts. That image was unfortunately burned into my mind forever. I don't know if I would be able to ever sleep again. However, I knew that she was just as stubborn as I was, and that she wouldn't stop bugging me about what happened in the Shrieking Shack until I told her. So, I decided to use my bargaining skills.

"Okay, here's the deal. I will tell you everything that happened between Remus and I, in exchange for all the details about your rendezvous with Sirius. Deal?" I looked at Alexa, who was mulling over my proposal. I could tell she was thinking hard, because whenever she thinks extremely hard about something her forehead crinkles and she bites her lower lip. I'm not going to lie, I kind of hoped that she would decline my offer, because I really didn't want to explain my eventful evening. "Deal," Alexa finally said after careful consideration.

By this time we had made it back to the common room. We crept silently through the portrait hole and looked around the deserted common room. I settled onto a couch near the fireplace and Blair and Alexa eagerly followed and sat around me on the floor. They were looking at me like little kids waiting for me to begin story time or something.

"Okay, spill all the details," Alexa said.

"Well, I got into bed, as you know, and I was just laying there trying to fall asleep. After ten or fifteen minutes, I was nearly asleep, when I felt someone shaking me. I thought it was one of you guys playing a joke on me, but when I looked around the room you and Blair asleep in your beds and no one around me. I just figured I was dreaming the whole thing. I laid back down and then I heard some one say, 'Lyla', I shot up and again I saw no one." Blair and Alexa were shaking their heads telling me to continue.

I took a deep breath and continued my little tale, "By now, I was a little freaked out, so I asked who was there. And then, out of nowhere, Remus appeared out of thin air." Alexa's eyes widened.

"Wait, how did he just appear? We aren't allowed to apparate inside the school. We haven't even learned how to apparate yet," Alexa inquired.

"He had an invisibility cloak," I told them.

"No way!" Blair said excitedly. "How did he get it?" Alexa asked with a curious look on her face.

"He said that he borrowed it from someone. I would have bugged him to find out who he got it from, but I never really got the chance. He grabbed me and put the invisibility cloak over both of us. He told me to be quiet and to stay close to him. I asked where we were going, but all he said was, 'Trust me and stay quiet.' So I followed him and kept my mouth shut."

"Wow, that's crazy," Alexa said. "That does not sound like Remus at all. I can't believe that he would traipse around the school grounds at night."

"I can't believe you went with him. You could have gotten in trouble for being out of bed, at night, with a boy. Personally, I am so…," I was ready to be ridiculed by Blair. I couldn't believe I had done it either. "… proud of you! Our little Lyla is all grown up! I mean, that is something I would do," Blair said laughing. I began to laugh along with her. I looked over at Alexa who was trying to suppress her laughter. "Okay, enough kidding around, get to the dirty details," she said nudging me.

"Well, I couldn't really see much, so I had no idea where we were going. Then he finally removed the cloak I was amazed at where we were. We were in the Shrieking Shack." I replayed the rest of the evening in my head as I told them.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Remus removed the invisibility cloak and dust flew up all around us. I looked around to find that Remus had dragged me out of bed and led me to the Shrieking Shack. I looked up at Remus who had a slight smirk on his face. There was complete silence, other than the sound of my heart beating fast as I looked deep into Remus' big beautiful eyes. When I finally escaped from the trance I was in, I said, "Remus, what are we doing here?"

Without saying anything, Remus turned around and walked slowly to a window with dirty panes. He stopped at the window and looked out them meaningfully; he was so cute when he was deep in thought. I followed him to the window and put my hand on his shoulder to turn him towards me. He turned to me and took a deep breath. "Lyla, I have something to tell you, something that has been eating me away inside. I brought you here to tell you this thing."

"Well, what is it? You can tell me anything," I said encouragingly.

"I know I can tell you anything, and I want to tell you so bad. The only problem is…I don't know how to tell you," he said kicking his shoes against the floor. I knew exactly what he was talking about. I so desperately wanted to tell him that I liked him, maybe even loved him, but I didn't want to be responsible for breaking him and Andy up. He finally looked up from his shoes and looked me straight in the face. "I think I love you."

My mouth dropped. I couldn't believe what I just heard. My mind just went completely blank. "Remus I…"

"Look, I know that this is sudden and that I have a girlfriend, but I couldn't keep this inside me any longer.

I understand that you probably don't feel the same way, but at least now you know," he started to walk towards the door. I wanted to go after but I just stood there like a fool. I couldn't move. I wanted to, but it was like someone had glued my feet to the floor.

I finally moved, and turned to go after Remus. I grabbed his hand. He turned to me looking at his feet. I lifted his face so he was looking at me. "You didn't let me finish. I love you too." He bent down and kissed me so gently on my lips. I kissed him back passionately, screw Andy Ablo. He put his hands around my face and neck. I wrapped my fingers through his hair. He started to walk towards me so I started backing up. Where luck would have it, I tripped over a loose floor board and went flying onto the floor, pulling Remus down with me. We both landed on the floor with a thud. I looked at him with an apologetic smile and I mouthed the word sorry. He just started laughing.

I grabbed him and rolled over on top of him and began to kiss him yet again. His hands were caressing my back. He slowly began to lift up my shirt. I let out a little giggle. Then there was a shadow that I noticed and then there was a cough. Remus and I looked up towards the door to find Blair standing in the door frame with her arms crossed tapping her foot. I leapt up immediately, pulled my shirt down and then helped Remus up. Blair stepped aside and Remus and I left the room like two little children who had just been caught drawing on the walls with crayons.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"And, well you know the rest," I concluded, a little out of breath. I looked at Blair who had a smile on her face and then I looked to my sister who looked less than happy.

"You little hussy! I'm so proud!" Blair screamed at me, giving me a hug so big that it knocked me over. When she released me from her firm grasp I turned to Alexa and said, "Alexa, are you mad at me?"

She stared at me with a stern look on her face. Then, she finally cracked a smile and responded, "No, I'm not mad, just a little shocked. I can't believe you did that, especially since Remus already has a girlfriend. You know what this means, don't you?" Blair and I looked at her, inquiring to what she was talking about. "You're the other woman!" she said busting out laughing. Blair and I looked at each other and joined in.

After our exciting night, we were all exhausted. We headed up to our dormitories and passed out on our beds. When I finally woke up, the sun was brightly shining through the open windows warming my rested face. I rolled over on my side to see if Alexa was still asleep but her bed, as well as Blair's, was empty. In fact, there was nobody in the dormitories. I looked at my clock to discover it was 11 o'clock. I couldn't believe I had slept so late, someone had turned off my alarm, and I bet I know who did it. I stretched out of bed, pulled on my jeans and a shirt, and headed down to the common room. In the common room sat four familiar bodies: Alexa, Blair, James, and Remus.

"Good morning Sleeping Beauty!" Alexa said with a huge smile on her face. "How was your extended sleep?"

A smile crept onto my face, "It was good," I went to the couch she was sitting on and sat next to her giving her a huge hug. "Thanks for turning off my alarm."

She returned my hug and then pushed me off of her saying, "Yeah, yeah. Can we go get some food now? I am so freaking hungry, and Remus made us all wait for you." I looked at Remus who gave me a sweet smile. We all got up and followed Alexa, who was already half-way out of the portrait hole. As we walked down to the Great Hall, Alexa turned to Remus, "Hey Remus, umm, do you happen to know where, umm, Sirius is?" Remus looked at her with a comical smile on his face. "I mean, I don't care or anything. Umm, someone else was looking for him. Yes, that's it!"

Remus just laughed and responded, "Well, I think he is already in the Great Hall." Alexa smiled and walked away dragging me along with her. When we got to the Great Hall we immediately found Sirius sitting at a table reading the Daily Prophet with a full plate of eggs, toast, and bacon that sat untouched in front of him. He looked different. He almost even looked like he was thinking. Nah, that couldn't be right, maybe he just had gas or something. Sitting next to him was Bree. She was playing with Sirius' hair and giggling as he read his paper. Sirius looked up from his paper and turned to Bree and whispered something to her. She whispered something back and then got up and walked towards us.

"Hey guys," She said waving at us. "I have to go now, but maybe I'll see you later," She walked past us out of the Great Hall.

"Oh, bitch please," I heard Alexa whisper under her breath. That was weird. We hadn't seen Bree since the beginning of school; it was like she just disappeared. She said that she was just to busy with school work to hang out. None of us really thought much about it because she was always studying. I looked over to Alex whose eyes were filled with fire. I touched her on the shoulder and gave her a smile. I knew she was mad that Bree seemed to be moving in on Sirius but she managed to crack a smile back at me.

We all sat down around him and he didn't even notice that we had sat down. Alexa, who was sitting next to him, worked up the courage to talk to him, "Hey, Sirius, are you okay?"

Sirius raised his head and looked around the table, he seemed okay until he saw Alexa sitting next to him. He jumped up and tripped trying to get over the bench really fast. He fell flat on his face and everyone in the Great Hall was watching intently trying to surpass their laughter. Sirius flew up off the ground, acting like he hadn't just face planted, and power walked out of the Great Hall.

We all were speechless and didn't move, except for James who reached across the table and grabbed Sirius' full plate and immediately started inhaling the food. Blair started laughing and we all joined in. James looked up with food falling out of his mouth, "Whu?" James asked, spewing food on the table. We just continued laughing. After breakfast we went back up to our Common Room to study and finish the killer essay that had been assigned to us by McGonagall. Trust me, that essay was hard!

"Lyla, why have you been in the bathroom for the past hour? Other people have to use the bathroom too, and a line is starting to form. Could you hurry…?" Before she could finish her sentence I threw open the door. "I'm so sorry! I didn't realize people were waiting, so sorry," I said looking apologetically at a fifth year that was first in line.

"Lyla! You look hot! What's the occasion?" Blair asked jumping off of her bed and playing with my hair.

"Well, I have Prefect duties tonight," I said swatting her hand away from my face as she tried to style my hair.

Alexa flopped on her bed and reached for an open package of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and popped a few in her mouth. "What does that matter? You always have Prefect duties. What makes this time any different…?" I smiled as I thought of Remus. She must have realized by the look on my face. "Oh, right, Remus."

"Shh. Stop, it's not that big of a deal." I said

"OH, REMUS!" Blair and Alexa screamed in unison while they twirled around me.

I tackled them to the floor and covered their mouths and looked around to make sure no one else was there. "Seriously, be quiet. You guys can't say anything about Remus and me. I'm the other woman, remember?"

"Oh right. Well, have a wonderful night." Blair said winking at me.

"I will; and try not to get into too much trouble while I'm gone," I said while laughing. Blair and Alexa smiled at me menacingly and waved as I walked down the stairs to meet the other Gryffindor Prefects. I met Lily half-way down the stairs to the common room and was slightly surprised to see that she didn't have anything too horrible to say to me. As we reached the portrait hole in a stony silence, Remus entered the room looking tired and somewhat upset. While I tried not to go over and wrap him in a comforting hug, Lily stepped briskly between us and started to speak. "We'll meet the Ravenclaw prefects in the Great Hall and then, since there are three of us this year," She sent a scathing glare at me and I smiled serenely, "We will probably have to split up into groups. Let's go."

She strode from the Common Room like she was the hottest thing since the sun and I rolled my eyes as I followed her. We were halfway to the Great Hall when we heard movement from behind us and someone shouted Remus' name. "Hey! Remus! Moony! Wait up!" I turned around to see the tell-tale black hair of Sirius Black running towards Remus. He looked a little worse for the wear, but I didn't say anything as he took Remus aside. Watching Remus' face, I noticed that he was looking more worried as Sirius' face became more animated. As Remus shook his head no and Sirius furrowed his brow, I had a strange feeling that something bad was going to happen.

Remus shook his head and spoke something in reply to Sirius. I tried to make out the words that they were saying, but I was never much of a lip reader. Sirius sped down the corridor and Remus returned to our group. "What was that all about?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing, Sirius is just being Sirius," Remus still looked worried. I knew there was something that he wasn't telling me.

When we finally made it to the Great Hall, Lily informed us to circle around her to receive our assignments. Remus and I positioned ourselves next to Lily. "Okay people, listen up," Lily boomed over the chattering of the other prefects. She sweetly smiled at everyone, "Tonight, we will be splitting up into pairs. The first pair will be…" While Lily raddled off her list of pairs and their assignments, I was busy staring at Remus. I did that a lot lately; I think I have a disease. "And Lyla will be with Remus. You two will be patrolling the fifth floor. Alright people, let's get to work. Off you go now."

Remus and I headed up to the fifth floor, just the two of us. As we walked down the deserted corridor, I felt something grab my hand. I looked down at my hand to find that Remus had grabbed my hand. I looked up at him shyly smiling at me. I intertwined my fingers with his and I felt butterflies swell up inside me. This was the first time that Remus and I had spent time alone with each other since our little escapade in the Shrieking Shack. It kind of sucked that I couldn't spend time with the person that basically confessed his love to me, but that was my price I had to pay for being the other woman.

We were getting ready to round a corner when Remus suddenly stopped and I was jerked backwards. "What's wrong Remus?" I asked.

A huge mischievous smile spread rapidly across Remus' face. He leaned in a little, as if to whisper, and said, "You want to have a little fun?" He was holding both of my hands now.

"What kind of fun?" I asked, curious as to what he had in mind.

Remus took my chin in his hand and raised it. He leaned down and kissed me on my neck and slowly moved across my jaw finally ending with a gentle kiss on my lips. "Does that give you a hint?"

With a goofy smile on my face, I shook my head because I could put together a coherent sentence in my mind.

"Follow me," He released one of my hands and pulled me behind him by the other. When we finally stopped, I had no idea where we were. It was almost completely dark and Remus turned to me smiling.

"Remus, where are we?" Remus pulled his wand out of his pocket and turned towards the wall to the right of us. "Lumos," he whispered. A light shot out of his wand, and in front of us was a portrait. He muttered something and the portrait popped open slightly. "What is this I asked?"

"This," he said, "Is one of the many shortcuts that James, Sirius, and I have discovered," he said grasping the door with one hand. He opened the portrait all the way and helped me into a dark corridor. He followed behind me and pulled the portrait door closed. At the moment Remus shut the door, I heard something down the corridor.

I grabbed Remus by his arm and whispered very softly, "Remus, what is that?" Remus shrugged his shoulders and started to walk slowly towards the noise. I held onto his arm as tight as I could. "What if it's something bad?" I asked. Remus looked at me and put his finger up to his mouth telling me to be quiet. I shook my head in agreement. "But Remus, what if…," he cut me off with a stern look. I mouthed the word sorry, not daring to speak again.

The noise was getting closer and louder. It now seemed that we were standing about ten feet away. Remus looked at me and I looked at him. He slowly reached for his wand, I grabbed for mine as well. He stretched out his arm and whispered so quietly, "Lumos." When the light appeared, I found neither a monstrous creature nor a dark magical being. However, I did find something terrible, not to mention a little disturbing. When that light appeared, I found Bree snogging someone on the floor.

"Bree!" I shouted.

"Um, hey Lyla," Bree shamefully replied. When Bree got up off the floor, it revealed her mystery snogging partner. When this mystery man came into the light, it was none other than Sirius Black. I immediately filled up with rage.

"Sirius Black!" How dare he snog my sister, blow her off, and then go and snog someone who I thought was our friend. I was furious to say the least. He has no idea what he just unleashed. You don't mess with the Parker sisters.

"Oh Lyla, Moony; fancy seeing you here. I don't even want to know what you two have been up to," Sirius said with no trace of remorse in his voice.

"Hey Padfoot. I didn't think you would come here. I told you this was a bad idea," I couldn't believe all of this.

"Remus, you knew about all of this, and you didn't stop him! How could you not tell me about this," I was looking furious at Remus.

"Look Lyla, you shouldn't blame Moony; it is all my fault. I made him swear not to tell you anything," he said in a tone that tried to make it seem that everything was okay. Oh, but everything was far from okay.

"Sirius Black you are such a prat! How dare you do something like this; when you know, quite well, how Alexa feels about you. And after what happened between you two, it seemed that you felt the same way too," I spat at him.

"Lyla, I wish I could explain all of that, but unfortunately I can't so, I will just take Bree back to her dormitory and maybe we can discuss this at a better time," Sirius said grabbing Bree and heading towards the other end of the corridor.

I had almost forgot that Bree was also involved. Bree has always been one of our good friends; and I just couldn't believe she would do something like this. Sure, she hadn't been around much this year and she had been acting a wee bit strange, but I would have never thought she would go behind Alexa's back and do this. I would have loved to lay into the both, but before I knew it they were gone, and once again, Remus and I were alone; and my head was throbbing. "Remus, my head is spinning and I don't even know how I am going to tell Alexa about this. Let's just go back to the dorms, please," I said rubbing my temples with my index fingers.

"Of course, but Lyla, are you sure you should tell Alexa? I mean, you don't know the whole story; maybe you should give Sirius a chance to explain," he said leading me out of the secret shortcut corridor.

"I have to tell her; she would hate me if she ever found out that I kept this from her. On the other hand, it could really hurt her if I tell her. I just don't know what to do," I stopped and sat down against a wall. "Why does Sirius have to be such an ass?" I asked him.

To my surprise, Remus started laughing. "He can't help it; it's just who he is. Sirius doesn't really know how to act when he has something good going for him; like your sister. Just wait at least until tomorrow, if you decide to tell her," Remus always knew what to say to make me feel better. He helped me up and we walked in silence back to the common room.

When I entered into the common room, to my displeasure, Alexa had waited up for me and was sitting on a couch starring at the fire place. I hadn't yet decided if I wanted to tell her yet, but I would take Remus' advice and wait till tomorrow. I walked over to the couch and plopped down on it letting out a big sigh. "Rough day at work today honey?" she laughed.

I couldn't help but laugh, "Yea, terrible," Alexa looked at me in a way indicating that she wanted me to go on. "Just some kids giving us a hard time."

"Kids these days," she said with a sarcastic tone and smile. We both laughed. I soon was overcome with tiredness; so Alexa and I both headed up to our dormitory to sleep. My mind was so busy trying to process the whole night that it was hard to fall asleep; but finally my mind couldn't take any more. I finally fell into a deep sleep.

When I woke up, the sun had barely come up and no one was awake. I knew that I had a tough day ahead of me. I had to decide if I was going to tell Alexa about Sirius and I had to at least give Sirius a chance to explain himself. I hopped in the shower and took my time washing my hair. When I got out, most everyone had awakened and gone to breakfast. Blair and Alexa were among the few who were still sleeping.

I put on some clothes and headed down to the common room to read. When I walked into the common room, to my surprise, Remus was sitting there. When I saw him, I remembered how I yelled at him last night. I felt so stupid and embarrassed. "Hey Remus, what are you doing up here; why aren't you at breakfast?" I hesitantly asked.

"Well, I could ask you the same thing," he said patting the seat next to him, beckoning me to sit down.

I sat down next to him, "Well, I was hoping that I could talk to Sirius before Alexa woke up. Do you know where he is?" I asked smiling at him.

"He's not awake yet. If you want, you can just go up and wait for him; most everyone is gone to breakfast anyway," he told me.

"Okay, I think I'll do that. Hey, um, I'm sorry for getting mad at you last night. I was just really upset," I said looking down at my twiddling thumbs.

"Don't worry about it. I completely understand," he said getting up and walking towards the portrait hole. "Good luck," he said giving me a sweet smile.

"Thanks," I said as he turned and left the common room. I went up to the boy's dormitory and saw that Sirius was the only boy sleeping in the dormitory. I went and sat on his trunk that was at the foot of his bed. I waited for a few minutes, but got quite bored, so I decided to wake him up. "Sirius," I whispered, "Sirius," I said a little louder. Man, he was a heavy sleeper. "Sirius!" I yelled. Sirius immediately shot up and looked around with his eyes half closed.

"What? What's going on?" he asked groggily.

He finally saw me sitting on his trunk. "Morning sunshine," I said with a bright smile on my face.

"What are you doing in here at this ungodly hour?" he asked, sitting up in his bed and rubbing his eyes.

"Sirius, it's not that early," I told him. "I am here to give you a chance to explain what happened last night." Sirius let out a sigh and rubbed his eyes again. I could tell he was hoping that I wouldn't bring that up. "All I want to know is why you did it. Why you snogged my sister and then avoided her because you were snogging her friend. Just tell me why."

"I wasn't avoiding her because of that," I looked at him encouraging him to go on, "I was avoiding her because…," he stopped and looked down.

"Sirius, why were you avoiding her if it wasn't because of Bree then?" I asked

"I was avoiding her because I don' want to hurt her. You might not believe me, but I do care about Alexa; and I don't want to do anything to harm her. I always screw relationships up and I don't want Alexa to be just another girl," he paused. I had never seen this side of Sirius; I didn't even know it was possible for Sirius to have this kind of side. "So to not risk hurting her, I decided to just stay away."

"Sirius, Alexa really likes you. You're hurting her more by staying away. Even though you're kind of a complete play boy," I said, both of us laughing, "You're the one she wants, and I'm pretty sure you feel the same way," Sirius nodded his head. "I know that a stable relationship is a new thing for you; but change is good. It's okay for you to be happy," I said getting up and going towards the door to leave. "Give this a chance, okay?" He nodded his head again. I gave him a smile and then headed down to the common room.

When Blair and Alexa finally woke up, we headed down to the Great Hall to join Remus and James for breakfast. When we sat down at the table, Remus had already finished eating and James, I'm sure, was on his third or fourth plate. When we started eating, I noticed Sirius walking towards us. He came up to our table and sat right next to Alexa, "Hey," he said smiling at her. Alexa's eyes lit up and returned his smile.

James had nearly finished his plate when a second year walked by. James turned and grabbed the second year by his shirt, "I would like another side of toast, run along." As the second year scurried away, we all started to laugh. When I looked across the table at Blair, I noticed Bree with a sour look on her face, looking at Sirius and Alexa talking. She got up and stormed out of the room. Sounds more like a side of tense.

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BabyBlueEyes10's Author Note: Hey, beautiful people! How is everyone doing? I hope that you all are doing well, because I'm so excited that we got two chapters up in the course of a week! Can you believe that we actually did that much work? I sure can't! Anyways, I want to thank the people who gave us reviews on the last chapter and those who favorited this story. We love you all. So, anyways, please leave us a review and tell us how you liked this beautiful story by AmuletGirl5 and just how you like the story in general!

All our love!


	5. The Grass is Always Greener

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the people you recognize. Sigh.

Baby Blue's Author Note: Oh my dear Merlin! I can't believe it has taken me this long to write all of this! I have had this case of 'me being lazy and school and piano taking over my life' and I just got this cranked out tonight. I don't know what mistakes there are in here, but I plan on going back and fixing them soon. I just wanted to have this put up before I could go back and delete it all. I have a tendency to do that sometimes.

Anyways, I wanted to dedicate this chapter to Digiqueen TMIM for being such a great writer and giving me such good advice. But, yeah, also thank you to all the people who reviewed the last chapter and who have been so kind this whole time. You guys rocks!

Don't forget to review at the end! All reviews are appreciated no matter the size, shape, or content!

For later in the story...

_Lyla writing_

**_Alexa writing_**

* * *

_The Grass is Always Greener_

"Alexa, I think that we should have a talk," I peered up at the speaker through my curly hair as I picked my head up from the desk I had been previously working on. It was Bree and I smiled at her, motioning for her to sit down. See that was the thing; I forgive very easily and Bree had been my friend since first year so I was okay to let this one fly. She sat down primly in the chair and shook her long, straight, brown hair over her shoulders. We stared at each other for a moment and when she didn't speak, I looked back to my essay and my text book that lay open on my desk. Oh the wonders of Skrewt mating!

Bree coughed politely and I rolled my eyes as I held up one finger to symbolize I wanted to finish writing my last sentence of this forsaken essay. I was still about half an inch short, so I signed my name with an extra flourish and then set my quill down and looked back up.

Oh.

She looked angry. Like, I'm going to punch a baby angry. Pulling my hair back into its hair tie, I focused all my attention on Bree. "Alright, shoot, Bree. What's wrong? You're not pregnant are you?" I was kidding with her but the way her face tightened had me choking on air. "Oh my gosh! Sweet Merlin, you aren't right?"

Bree scoffed. "Of course I'm not, Alex. You know me better than that," She bore into my eyes with her stare and I was becoming slightly freaked out. "We need to talk about a current situation that is taking place between us." She spoke as if she was about to make some grand speech and I felt my eyes glazing over slightly while I tried to keep my focus. In the state of mind she was in now, which was a serious one, my short attention span was not going to help whatever case I was going to have to play. I hoped that I wasn't going to be the guilty one.

See, the thing with Bree and I is that we like to fight. A lot. Most of the time the fights are over trivial things; just like who stole who's hair brush, is that really _your_ tie or is it mine, etc. They were dumb and we knew it but something about our genetic makeup just had us fighting all the time. I really didn't want to fight with her. Truly, she was one of my best friends and I would be crushed if we ever had a fight. It's just that when you're with people all the time you can only take so much. So it wasn't like we weren't friends. We simply just got on each other's nerves and fought.

The weirdest part about it was that I always ended up as the guilty one. No matter if it was my tie she was wearing and I hadn't taken anything from her, she always made me feel bad about what had happened. It was a game that she knew all the rules to, while I was sitting on the bench trying to find the manual. I could tell that this was the game that we were going to be playing today as well and I tried to steal myself for it. When she didn't speak and explain the 'situation' between us I sighed and held my head in one hand.

As I was opening my mouth to speak, the door to the library opened and Bree peeked over her shoulder. She glared angrily at the two black haired boys that were entering the entrance before turning her back to me and mouthing something to Sirius and James. Whatever it was they stalled for a moment, looking unsure of themselves. Only for a moment though, they were the marauders after all. She rolled her eyes as she turned back around to face me, waiting for me to speak. "Alright, Bree, I'll bite. What situation do we need to talk about?" She smiled semi-maliciously at me and I tilted my head slightly to watch her. While she glanced once more over her shoulder to see if the boys were making their way towards us, _I _tried not to roll my eyes. Couldn't this ever be simple?

"The _situation_ is about the fact that you may or may not have developed a small crush on one-fourth of the Marauders." My eyes widened and straightened up in my chair, giving myself slight whiplash as I looked around to make sure no one had heard her. With my hand over Bree's mouth to stop her from saying anything else, I whispered almost so quietly that I could barely hear myself.

"Bree! Shut your mouth for just a minute, okay?" She glared angrily at me while I removed my hand and sat back in my seat, raising my voice to a regular whisper once again. "I really don't want everyone to know." I lowered my head to stare at the desk. See, there she goes again! She hasn't even said anything but I feel as if I should be sorry for snapping at her. Maybe I had overreacted. But then again, maybe I hadn't.

Bree tossed her hair over her shoulder, and once again, gave me a disparaging look. "Whatever, Alex, this is clearly something that needs to be spoken about. Your crush is just a little school-girlish and I don't want you to be hurt if he suddenly ends up with another, more mature girl." I watched as Bree looked over her shoulder and caught Sirius' eye. She motioned for him to come over and he looked to James and started this way. All the while, my heart was racing in my chest.

"Bree, does Sirius already have a girlfriend? And my crush isn't even a crush exactly. I don't even think I like him that way." I was about to tick off a list of the things about Sirius that I _didn't _like, but it was too late. He was already sitting down beside Bree and was looking at us curiously. "Hi Sirius," I tried to remain calm as I spoke to Sirius and not let my voice waver. He didn't need to know that his prescence affected my that much. Bree said a coy hello and I swear that she winked. Sirius flirted back and it was suddenly like I wasn't even there at all. My palms began to itch and my face flushed. So, this is what she was talking about when she said another girl. Granted, I didn't think she was that mature, but I wasn't in a position to argue was I?

As I started to gather up my things, Bree looked up from giving Sirius what she liked to call her 'bedroom' eyes. "Where are you going, Alexa? We haven't even begun to talk this over yet," She sent me a devil like smile as I felt like I was being stabbed in the back. Sirius looked from my troubled face to Bree's triumphant one and seemed to gauge the situation. "Are you two fighting over me?" He asked while looking back and forth between us.

"We're not fighting over anything." I said through gritted teeth and Sirius' expression turned into a smug smirk. "I'm just leaving because I'm done," Looking at Bree when I said this I hoped that she understood my double meaning. I was upset that she thought our friendship was just a way to manipulate me and I wasn't going to sit around and be one of her pawns anymore. Suddenly, I realized that I was really angry. "So what did you two do then? Did you snog in a broom closet or did you hook up under a tree?" I directed this last statement towards Sirius, who had the decency to flush while Bree looked up at me haughtily.

"For your information, Sirius and I spent some time getting to know each other in a disclosed part of the castle," My mouth dropped open while Sirius whipped his head around to stare at Bree. I was only angry, I didn't think that she had actually done anything with him. She knew that I had a slight crush on him. "Aw, Alexa, I'm sorry. You didn't think that your kiss with Sirius actually _meant _something, did you?"

Searching frantically for a way out of this situation, I grabbed up my things and shoved them into my bag. When Sirius grabbed my arm I finally looked up. Wrenching my arm out of his grasp, I gave a curt nod. "It was just a kiss. It meant nothing at all and as far as I'm concerned it didn't even happen." With that note I turned out of the conversation and strode past the desks and shelves out of the library. If I had bothered to look back I may have seen Sirius' slightly crestfallen expression.

But then it's a good thing that I didn't look back.

--

By the time I had actually made it out of the library I was almost in a full sprint, so I didn't see the person until I ran into them. Groaning as my tail end hit the cold, marble ground I muttered out a sorry as I looked over to the person I had just knocked down. Emerald eyes peered up at me thru a mess of fiery red hair. Lovely, I get to deal with this _demon_ after having a semi-smack down with one of my best friends. "So sorry, Lily, I didn't see you there," I said, wincing. My arse really was sore.

Shrugging, Lily stood from the ground and offered me a hand which I looked at momentarily before grabbing it. With Lily's help, I hoisted myself off the ground. "Yah, sorry too. I should probably watch where I'm going more often." I laughed slightly as Lily smiled at me. Surprisingly enough it was a genuine smile. I should probably mention that Lily was slightly okay when she wasn't around Andy Ablo. How do I know this? Well, last year when we were all stressing out about O.W.L.'s Lily graciously shared her notes and some chocolate frogs with me as I crammed in the library.

Anyways, the silence growing between was beginning to get a bit awkward, so I hoisted my bag higher on my shoulder. "I should probably mention to you that James is in there, but he's in the back actually studying so you can probably slip in without him seeing," We shared one last smile, a thank you, and a 'see you later' and then I was once again walking through the corridor towards Gryffindor Common Room. When I reached the common room entrance some 5 minutes later, my older sibling was being hassled by the portrait.

"If I knew what the bloody password was I would have said it by now! Can't you just give me a freaking hint? You know I'm in Gryffindor because I come in and out of here everyday. Just open the frick up!" She shouted as she struck her 'prefect' pose. I giggled into my hand and walked up behind Lyla, ignoring the Fat Lady as she berated Lyla for her language.

"I believe the password is 'poppycock.'" I giggled as Lyla turned to face me, her face red and embarrassed as the Fat Lady huffed and swung open. We filed in and surveyed the common room for a place to sit. "So, almighty prefect, how did you of all people not know the password?" She sent a glare my way and made her way to where Blair was sitting, reading a book and periodically scratching down notes on her parchment.

She answered me as we sat down on the chairs surrounding our best friend. "I'll let you know that while I am a prefect, I am not all knowing." Blair laughed along with me as she turned the page to her book and marked down a few more notes. "Forget the password again, Lyla?" While Lyla rolled her eyes and we giggled, the portrait hole opened again. This time the person who entered was someone I didn't want to see.

"Oh, damn it all to hell." I muttered as he spotted me and bounded his way over to where we were sitting. Lyla and Blair looked up, and when Lyla saw who was coming the look on his face and mine were enough to send her up from the couch. "Let's leave these two to a little privacy, shall we?" Blair looked up at Lyla and then to Sirius and I and she nodded quickly. She began to pack her stuff, thought better of it, and then motioned for me to make sure no one took anything. I rolled my eyes but nodded as Sirius sat down in Lyla's place. "You do realize that I don't really want to talk to you right now, correct?"

Sirius looked down at his folded hands and then crossed his arms. We avoided eye contact as I crossed my legs and then uncrossed them, pulling at my jeans so they would cover my toes. "Listen, Lexi," Sirius began, irritating me already with that nickname, "I just wanted to let you know that Bree had no business telling you that stuff. And I'm really sorry that she even did," I looked up at Sirius. His eyes held no remorse for what he hadn't denied happenng.

"So, you're saying that what she said was true, but that you're not sorry that it did happen?" I asked sarcastically, just so I would know exactly what was going on. His face darkened in anger at what I'm guessing was my tone and I leaned forward. "Okay, so did you snog my best friend before or after you pushed me up against a tree and snogged me?" I was being brutal, but I was angry and the fact that Sirius thought he could toy with my emotions was upsetting me more.

"First of all, you didn't think it was such a big deal because you said it yourself in the library. Secondly, I did snog her after it happened, but that doesn't mean that I'm not sorry. And thirdly, you ran _away _from me after we kissed so I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to get from that," He leaned back in his chair and looked smug as I floundered on the words I wanted to use to express myself.

"That doesn't make it okay Sirius. None of that means that you can just go around messing with people," I flung my hands out angrily and glared at the boy across from me. "Just because you think you're the best thing since flying broomsticks doesn't mean that other people think you are. And if I recall, _you _avoided me after the whole incident."

Sirius scoffed as he retaliated. "Sorry if I didn't want to subject my feelings to someone as heartless as you. What was I supposed to do, Alexa? Just walk up to you and say, 'Hey, thanks for running away from me after we snogged.'? Yes, I'm sure that's exactly what you would have wanted." I rolled my eyes and stood from the couch.

"Hah, I'm the heartless one? You are the one with no morals, the one who will snog anything with legs whether it's meaningful or not." I stalked around the table separating us and stood nearer to him so I wouldn't have to shout. "And you're right, that's not what I would have wanted. So, guess what, now I don't want anything at all because I think that you're too chauvinistic and proud to ever have a proper relationship with someone." Sirius stood up as well, glaring down at me and I tried to bring myself up and not look intimidated.

Curse his tallness!

"Well, I guess that means you have no morals too because you sure as hell snogged me back," Sirius grinned triumphantly at me when he saw my resolve weaken. I had kissed him back. "Just so you know, I am capable of a decent relationship, just ask Bree. We just started dating." My eyes widened at his statement and I backed away from him some. "So why don't you just cool down and then we can forget about all this?"

Giving a slight laugh and a shake of my head, I grabbed my school bag and Blair's work from the table. "Only when hell freezes over will I ever think of you as a better person, Black. So you can shove it for all I care. Have a good life with my _best friend._" I scrambled for the stairs of my dormitory before Black could come up with a comeback and I tried to keep my head down so the people in the common room couldn't see how upset I really was.

I took the stairs two at a time and when I finally reached the door marked 6th years, I flung it open and collapsed on the closest bed, which happened to be Lyla's. "Sunday's hate me." I bemoaned as she gave me a sad smile and pulled my ponytail out from under my head.

"I know, my friend, I know."

--

Dinner was a silent affair that night as we ate as quickly as we could. I was over the whole Bree and Black thing by now, but there was no way I was going to forgive them just yet. I knew a boy was nothing to lose a friend over, but I was still hurting that Bree would do that to me. Some would say that she wasn't the type of friend I wanted to have anyway, but we had been friends long enough for me to know that she was hopefully regretting this.

The upside to this whole ordeal was that I now knew what a bastard Black really was.

Note how I am now calling him Black. This is because I am angry and I don't want to call him his 'name' for now. Possibly later on if he and I become 'friendly' again, but for now this is how I will express my anger. While we were in our dorms before dinner, Lyla and Blair had informed me that our slight argument in the common room had actually been full out yelling and I hadn't needed to repeat anything because they already heard it all. From now on, by Blair's request for non-violence, I was going to refrain from open confrontation. Oh, but there would be angry letters! Haha! I love bending the rules.

Anyways, Blair and I giggled thru the pudding and desserts as Lyla covertly slipped a few extra pecans on Andy's plate. The girl was senile about having only 15 pecans per day and this was how we were going to slowly chip away at her sanity until Remus realized that she was a bitch and finally dumped her. This way, Lyla didn't have to be the other woman anymore and they could bring their relationship into the open.

Andy popped a few more pecans into her mouth, the last of the real 15, and then stared blankly at the remaining 3 on her plate. We waited anxiously to see what she was going to do next. Slowly, bringing her fork closer to poke the nut, Andy glared. Remus looked up from his chocolate cake to watch his seemingly sane girlfriend stare at her plate. "Something wrong, Andy?" He asked while looking from her plate and back to her widening blue eyes. When she didn't respond he reached out to touch her hand.

Shaking her head, Andy dropped her fork to the side and looked up at Remus while batting her eyelashes. "Perfectly fine, Remy, just miscalculated something from earlier and I only realized it now." Remus smiled down at her, taking her hand in his and holding then under the table. Blair and I mocked puking behind our hands while Lyla rolled her eyes. She didn't seem to fazed by the fact that Remus was still holding Andy's hand, but then I guess she knew who he was sneaking out to see at night.

I reached for my goblet, but stopped as I saw Lily's piercing green eyes bore into my own green eyes. She had caught us! Worrying for a moment, I shook my head slightly and Lily nodded back, confinming he fact that she wasn't going to out us to Andy. It's good to know you have some power with your peers.

Draining the last of the apple juice from my goblet, I stood up from the bench, jostling the third year that was on my left side. "Sorry," I mumbled as Blair got up and we stepped over the bench together. The little boy blushed and I smiled serenely. "You coming, Lyls?" I asked when she didn't get up with us.

"I think I'm going to catch up with you guys later, Lily and I have prefect duties tonight." She smiled when Remus reminded us that he had duties too, and I grinned behind my hand. That cheeky monkey left him out on purpose! "Of course, Remus, how could I forget." My sister is good, playing the sly mode. Very slick. Blair and I linked arms and did the 'Queen' wave as we exited the Great Hall. We made our way to the staircase, saluting to Professor Slugghorn as he passed us.

We jumped the trick stair as James came bounding down the stairs towards us. "Hey Blair! Alexa!" He called out as he kept running and we stopped to watch him sprint down the stairs. "Can't talk now, but I'll see you in the common room, yeah?" He yelled to Blair who rolled her eyes and yelled down a yes. As we watched James stop and look around, Sirius came barreling out of one of the corridors that surrounded the Great Hall. He tackled James to the ground and held him down until James begged mercy.

"Get off of me you great baffoon!" James shouted. "I want my wand back you hairy oaf." Sirius growled. We left the two boys arguing and made our way back up the stairs. When we reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, Blair and I shared a private laugh as we gave the password and made our way inside. I left Blair in the common room as I went up to the dorms to shower and to work on an essay. While towel drying my curly hair, I sat on my bed and pulled out my essay from earlier.

Then, before I could get out my quill, my head hit my soft feather pillow and I was out like a light.

--

The next morning was a Monday and I groaned when my alarm went off. I curled under my blankets that someone must have kindly thrown around me and closed my eyes momentarily. The next thing I know, someone is yelling at me to turn my stupid snooze button off and get my 'lazy ramasaki out of bed.' No lie. Who even says that?

Anyways, when I realized that I had had enough sense to put my pajamas on and take a shower last I night I was very thankful. I have this thing about sleeping in my clothes. I just can't do it. So, I climbed out of the bed and over to my dresser/closet thing that each girl has and pulled out my clean plaid skirt with the Gryffindor red trim, my gray knee-socks, my white oxford, my tie, and lastly my sweater. "Bathroom?" I question in a slightly raised voice. There is no reply so I walk over to the door and step inside the bathroom. It's still steamy from someone's shower and I change quickly, making all the necessary rounds before I can have a steam bath.

When I get out of the room, Lyla is sitting on my bed, already ready for school. I roll my eyes at her as I notice that she has made my bed up as well. "Thanks mom." I laugh as I sit down by the mirror to start doing my make-up. See the thing about our mirror is that somehow it was 'accidently' knocked off the wall at the beginning of school. The good thing is more people can use it now. Lily was adjusting her uniform as I sat down and took out my stuff and we shared a nod. When she went back over to her bed, Lyla came over and stood in front of the mirror.

"Listen, Alexa, I want to tell you something. And it's really important." I screwed the top back on my mascara and stood up as I made my way back to my bed to put my stuff away. "We don't really have time right now, Lyla, I'm starving and class starts in like, half an hour." She nods and I pull my shoe out from under my bed, shoving it on my foot and not bothering with the laces as I pull on my other one. "Can we talk in Divination?"

She nods and we grab our stuff, throwing one more pillow at Blair who refuses to get up in the morning. She says she doesn't need breakfast, so we let her sleep until we leave for breakfast. She stirs and rubs her eyes, waving in recognition as she stumbles into the bathroom. What really sucks about Mondays is that the only class I share with Lyla is Divination. I have ranging other classes with Blair and all my classes with James, but I don't get to see Lyla much.

When we enter the Great Hall, it's packed and we ended up squashed in between two second years and some random fourth years. I looked around while shoving a chocolate chip muffin into my mouth and waved over to James and Remus who were at the head of the table with Peter and Sirius, the latter not looking up from their food. "See you in Arithmancy?" I shout to James who gives me a thumbs up.

"So, Lyla, are you excited? Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology with Remus for the first two periods!" I raise my eyebrows as she blushes and a few of the fourth years begin to titter. "Isn't he so dreamy?" I asked them and the join Lyla in the blushing party. "Well, I'm off to lessons, got to get a good seat. See you in third!" I say as I finish my muffin and grab a scone from the pastry plate. I waved goodbye and made my way out of the Great Hall, climbing the many stairs to the Arithmancy classroom.

I hate school.

--

Later, I met up with Lyla outside of the Divination tower. James and I were trying to stand far enough away from the ladder so we didn't get drugged up from the fumes when we saw Lyla coming. She was talking to Remus who must have walked her up here, because I was sure that he didn't take this class. "I'll see you later." She whispered as they neared us and he gave us a hello before turning around and walking back towards his other classes. With everyone in tow, we made our way up the ladder and into the tower. Gagging on the harsh fumes from the incense, I found three seats in the back for our trio to sit.

Usually Blair would sit with us, but she had mentioned before that she had a meeting with McGonagall and would be missing class today. I began to take out my parchment and quill when Lyla handed me the note parchment and motioned for me to get out my special quill. I did so and almost immediately as class started, Lyla began to write. I watched her looping pink script color the paper. Waiting until she was finished, I tried to act like I was watching the Professor teach about something boring. Half the people were already asleep, just like James, whose glasses were pushed onto the top of his head and his eyes were closed and his mouth was hanging slightly open. I giggled quietly and then looked down.

_Alex, listen, don't get mad at what I'm about to tell you. I didn't know how to say it at first and then with yesterday I knew it just wasn't a good time to say anything. Anyways, this probably isn't the best way to say it, or write it I guess, but I want to do it now before I start to feel really guilty. Not that that's the only reason I'm doing it. _

I rolled my eyes and muttered the incantation as I wrote, my green script matching the pink with a cool color.

_**What is it, Lyla? You know you can tell me. I'm most definitely not going to freak out on you because that would just be stupid and I don't want you to feel guilty. Plus, it would go against the angry in public thing. **_

_**Anyways, what is it that you wanted to tell me?**_

Lyla's hand hesitated and then her hand shook as she forced herself to write the next few sentences.

_Okay, just promise not to be too mad. The other night, Saturday, when Remus and I were patrolling we were on our way to find this secret corridor he had been telling me about….._

_**You guys were so going to snog!!**_

_Maybe we were, but stop interrupting._

_**Sorry! Continue on with your story please.**_

_Anyways, we found this corridor and I heard this noise. It sounded like people so being prefects we had to go and check it out. It ended up just being these two kids snogging like I told you about in the common room. _

_**Ew! Who was it, probably some dumb fourth years I bet.**_

_Huh, I thought so to at first, but it ended up being Bree…….and uh, someone else._

……………

_Alexa? Please don't be mad that I didn't tell you! I just didn't want to hurt your feelings or get your hopes up. I know how much you really do like Sirius._

_**You knew.**_

_**And you didn't tell me? And that's liked. I used to think I had feeling for Sirius but now I'm definitely sure that I don't. Why didn't you tell me? I get the fact that you didn't want to hurt me, but next time you've gotta tell me this stuff. I felt like such an idiot yesterday when I found out.**_

_I know! I'm so unbelievably sorry. But, I mean, what would you have done if I had told you? Would you have asked Sirius or Bree or would you have just ignored them both for awhile?_

I paused for a moment and looked up from the parchment to Lyla. She looked sympathetic and I hugged my older sister briefly. She looked back down at the paper, waiting for me to write again and I made sure the professor was occupied before I wrote again.

_**I don't know what I would have done. Probably ignored them until they brought it up. It seems unavoidable though, now anyways. I just wish I hadn't harbored a crush on Black. He's such an idiot. Can you believe he wasn't even sorry about snogging me and then just snogging my best friend?  
**_

_Well, I don't want you to be upset, but Bree kind of initiated the whole meet up thing with him. And he is just a guy. Most guys are going to think with their penises and not with their brains at this age._

I snorted as I read her response and turned it into a coughing fit as the teacher looked up at us. Lyla hit me on the back while shrugging to the teacher as if she couldn't help me at all. The teacher rolled her eyes before launching back into her lecture on the all-seeing eye (the same one she gave four times already) and I stopped my coughing.

_Honestly, Alexa, it's just a word. Let's show a little maturity. And back to what I was saying, Bree was the one who kind of started it all. _

_**Sigh. I know. I should be mature. I just can't believe that Bree would do something like that to me. It's so mean. I guess we'll have to talk about this with Blair later though when we watch them practice. We'll figure it out I guess.**_

_We will. Don't worry. : )_

I folded up the parchment as the bell rang, symbolizing that class was over. Lyla and I helped James down the ladder and to the Great Hall, where the smell of food revived him somewhat. Before we sat down, Lyla and I exchanged a hug and a smile. I was happy to know that no matter what I had my sister to help me through it all.

We talked about meaningless things for the duration of lunch and James was launching into his tactics for the nights practice when Sirius and Bree dropped down into seats across from us. James went suddenly quiet, meaning he must have known what was going on, and I sighed, "What is the 1-3 formation again?" I asked, encouraging James to go on and showing him that everything was perfectly fine. He smiled and launched into his explanation again and I tried to look interested.

But my eyes kept straying to the gray stare across the table.

--

Lyla sighed for what must have been the 70th time that night as we sat out on the Quidditch stands watching as the Gryffindor players practiced their plays and their special moves. The team work was outstanding and a certain part of my body ached to be out on the pitch, flying high above everyone else, my eyes and ears straining for any sign of the golden ball I wanted to grasp. So I was a closet player, that meant nothing. I had tried out in my fourth year, but it hadn't worked out so well. Black had knocked the wind out of me with a bludger and I had missed the snitch, getting beat out by a boy a year below us.

I had also been in the Hospital Wing with two broken ribs, but we don't like to mention that. Anyways, Lyla was sighing because she had finished all her homework, and while practice was interesting, she had left a rather intriguing novel back in the dorm and she wanted to finish is. "Hold your pea-picking horses, Lyls. The best part of practice is on it's way to beginning," Blair stated, watching as James called for everyone to land their brooms and start towards the stands.

I turned back to my card game that I had started with Lily, who had been out here writing some article for her Muggle Studies class. Begrudgingly, I had gotten Blair and Lyla to sit with her and I had hoped they would realize that she was a better person when she was away from Andy. We all seemed to be getting on pretty well, and I was happy to say that she and Blair had even shared a few laughs. Now if only we could bring her over to the dark side (as Andy called us). We did have cookies!

"Well, the practice is pretty interesting so far. Potter has some surprisingly good tactics when it comes to Quidditch," Lily said while flipping her cards and I groaned. Foiled again! Blair stared at Lily blankly as though judging whether or not to actually say anything or not. Finally, she turned back around to watch her boyfriend yell orders to the others. Lyla waved to Marlene and she grinned slightly back at us.

"I'm telling you guys, watching this much will be worthwhile when they start their suicides." I shook my head and rolled my eyes, causing me a slight pain in my head. I must be dying of boredness. Lyla came to sit down next to us and watch our card game when Blair squealed excitedly.

She'd been saying that practice was worth it for the better part of practice and I was starting to get hungry. "I can't believe I missed dinner for this," I groaned while thinking of the hot buttered rolls that I had smelled when passing the Great Hall. Blair just sent me a twinkling smile as the players trudged to where the stands started, only about 10 feet away from us. "And it begins." Blair said with a smirk as most of the boys on the team stripped out of their shirts.

"What the hell?" Lyla asked, her eyes riveted on Caradoc Dearborn who was in the year above us.

"The reason I come to these practices." Blair stated as she watched James, who was shirtless like the rest, blow a whistle and the team started their sprints and suicides. I noticed that Lily was also staring in the same direction as Blair, but I couldn't get up enough energy to see for sure. My eyes were glued to the tan, black haired Adonis running closest to us.

And then I realized that it was Sirius Black and my mission of ignorance got a whole lot harder.

* * *

AmuletGirl's Author's Note: Hey everyone! Thanks for reading, I hope you utterly enjoyed this chapter. I command you all to leave a review immediately. Just a little trivia fact- there were a lot of inside jokes hidden inside our stories at various parts, so if you don't understand them, well, that's the whole point of inside jokes so, yeah. Lol. Well, hopefully I will be able to put up the next chapter very soon. So leave a review if you have any questions, comments, or you just feel like reviewing. And to all those anonymous readers who don't leave reviews, show some love! Chip chip cheerio!


	6. Sex, Drugs, and Rock n' Roll

Disclaimer: I do not, in any way shape or form, own anything Harry Potter.

Amulet Girl A/N: Hello good people of Fan Fiction! Here is the chapter, that I know you all have been eagerly anticipating. So, without any delay, here is the chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

_Sex, Drugs, and Rock n' Roll_

Lyla's POV

I was walking to Transfiguration, when I realized something; I was walking alone, literally, there was no one else in the corridors. I was alone a lot lately. Blair had been preoccupied with James, and they were always together. Alexa had been nonexistent as well. Ever since Alexa had checked Sirius out at Quidditch practice, she had been avoiding everyone especially Sirius. I haven't even been able to see Remus because he has been spending a lot of time with Andy Ablo, disgusting I know. So here I was, walking alone, while everyone else was off with, or running away from the "loves of their lives." Ain't it always the way?

I stopped right before I went into the Transfiguration classroom. Next to me, I heard a sigh. I looked over and saw that a forlorn Alexa was standing next to me. "Hey Lyla."

"Hi Alexa. What's wrong with you?" I asked.

"Well, I'm struggling with the fact that I could be in love with my mortal enemy, you know, just the normal stuff," Alexa replied nonchalantly looking straight ahead. "Oh right," I responded. "We should probably get to class," I said. Alexa nodded her head approvingly and we both walked into the class room. When we entered into the room Blair immediately saw us and waved at us to come over. Blair was sitting with James at a desk with Sirius and Bree occupying the desk behind them, Remus and Andy Ablo sitting next to them, and one lone desk right in front of them that Blair had so thoughtfully saved for us. Alexa and I looked at each other with as much enthusiasm as we could possibly muster and headed for our desk. I had a feeling that today's assignment was going to be death.

As Alexa and I were taking our seats, Professor McGonagall walked out of her office to the front of the class and cleared her throat. "Hmm, hmm, okay class, today we will be changing flowers into butterflies. I will put you into groups of two," McGonagall began to rattle off names. "… James and Blair, Sirius and Bree, Andy and Lily, and Lyla and Remus," McGonagall turned to set her parchment on her desk.

"Umm, excuse me professor, but you didn't pair me up with anyone," Alexa piped up. The door to the classroom swung open and in walked in Caradoc Dearborn. Alexa's eyes instantly widened and flooded with life. She looked happier than she had in a while. Caradoc walked past Alexa and flashed her a smile that made even me melt, he was quite cute. The 7th year Gryffindor boy was close to 6'3, with beautiful blue eyes that were 10 times better than anyone's I knew, except for Remus that is, and his dark brown hair made even Sirius Black jealous. The beautiful bastard, why couldn't all guys be like him. Caradoc was also one of the sweetest guys you would ever meet. That, plus his hot body, was enough to make all the girls want to be on him. Mmmmkay, anyways, well, he gave a note to McGonagall and she looked up at Alexa.

"Alexa, since you haven't been doing as well as I would like you to be doing in my class, I decided to get you a tutor. Mr. Dearborn has so generously offered to help you. Mr. Dearborn is the best in his class and I think you should really utilize you time with him and try to learn a lot. Mr. Dearborn, please have a seat, today we are changing flowers into butterflies, so you should have no trouble with this." Caradoc made his way to the desk where Alexa was now sitting alone. When Caradoc sat down Alexa gave me a devilish smile and I winked at her.

"So Lyla, should we get started on the assignment?" Remus asked me. I turned to him and nodded my head. "It's so good to see you," he said slightly touching my hand on the table. I could feel my cheeks burning a scarlet color. I pulled my hand away and grabbed a flower that was in front of me and started smelling it. Remus also grabbed a flower and set it in front of him. "Will you do the honors?" he asked me, signaling me to change the flower. I positioned myself in front of the flower and pointing my wand at the flower, I muttered the incantation. Mine and Remus' flower broke into a group of vibrant multicolored butterflies that flitted around us.

"Excellent work Miss Parker, 10 points to Gryffindor!" McGonagall shouted with a bright smile on her face. I looked to Remus who was smiling at me. We looked into each others eyes and it felt like the butterflies I had just transfigured had just entered my stomach. And, then my perfect moment was interrupted by the devil herself. The butterflies in my stomach were immediately squished as I watched Andy Ablo kissing Remus.

I turned back to the flowers laying on our desk and tried to conceal my sadness. It obviously wasn't working, because when Andy had finished sucking Remus's face off and he turned around and said, "Hey, are you okay?"

At this I became a little angry. How could he possibly even think that I was okay after having to watch him and Andy right in front of me. "No Remus, I am not okay," I said coldly turning to look at him. "What's wrong?" he asked with a concerned look on his face. "What's wrong with me?" I whispered, "I am tired. Tired of having to hide my feelings, tired of being alone, tired of having to see you with her. That's what is wrong with me."

Remus let out a sigh and sat in his chair. We sat there in silence for a while, when he finally said something. "I know that none of this has been fair to you, and I am sorry for making you feel this way. But I can't leave Andy."

"Why Remus? Why can't you leave her? You deserve so much better," I told him touching his leg in reassurance.

He cupped my hand in his and faced me, "Lyla, you know how I feel about you. I just need more time, I don't want to hurt Andy, wait just a little longer."

I heard a certain sadness in Remus's voice. "You keep telling me to wait just a little longer, but I don't want to wait anymore. I love you Remus; I just…," I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. I really do love him but I just can't take it anymore, "… I just don't want to wait forever."

I waited for him to say something. To say that would leave Andy and that we could finally be together, but the words never came. Remus released my hand and I began to feel tears cascade down my face. I sat there for a moment and then I got up from my seat and ran out of the class. I kept running until I got to an abandoned corridor. My legs gave out and I sat on the floor and cried. I couldn't believe what had just happened.

When I finally stopped crying, some hours later, I walked backed to the common room. It was getting dark outside and I figured it was close to dinner time. When I entered through the portrait hole into the common room, only a few people were in there. I made my way up the stairs leading to the girl's dormitory. I opened the door and I saw Blair and Alexa sitting on my bed talking about something. They both stopped talking and looked at me. "Lyla, what happened? Where have you been?" Alexa asked.

Without saying anything, I walked over to my bed and sat down in between them. "Lyls, what's wrong?" Blair asked with a worried face. I looked at both of them and then cupped my face in my hands and began to cry once again. Alexa and Blair both put their arms around me. They sat there with me until I finally fell asleep at around 10 o'clock.

I opened my swollen eyes to find that Alexa and Blair were both laying next to me. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. There was a blanket of tissues scattered on the bed and some on the floor. I climbed over Alexa and went into the bathroom to wash my face. When I came out Alexa and Blair had both awoken and were yawing and stretching. They both smiled at me and I returned their smiles and went to sit back on the bed with them. We sat there in silence for a moment and then Blair broke the silence, "So, do you want to talk about it?" she asked me with a curious look on her face. I smiled and nodded my head.

After I finished telling them the whole story, they both had astonished looks on their faces. "I can't believe Remus did that!" Alexa said angrily.

"You poor thing," Blair added giving me a huge hug, "Do you want us to beat him up?" she asked. I just laughed and hugged Blair back. "Do you want to go get something to eat?" she asked releasing me from the hug.

"No, I'm not very hungry," I responded. "Are you sure? It would probably do you some good to get some food in your stomach," Alexa said pulling me up off the bed. "No, I'm fine, go on without me. I will probably read in the common room or go for a walk," I indicated. Alexa shrugged her shoulders and then her and Blair both left to get some breakfast. After they left I grabbed a book and headed down to the common room. I sat down on a couch in front of a burning fire and opened the book and began to read. It wasn't too long after I began reading that some one sat down on the couch beside me.

I looked up from my book to find Lily Evans standing next to me with a smile on her face. "Hi Lyla," she said in that sweet voice of hers. To be completely honest, I was a little shocked that Lily had even talked to me. "I saw that you were sitting here alone, so I decided to come over and say hi," I shook my head and entered into an awkward pause. "Um, I just wanted to see if you were okay. You seemed pretty upset yesterday when you ran out of Transfiguration."

Lily was one of the last people I wanted to discuss my problems with. "Um, I'm okay, thank you," I said a little confused as to what was going on. She sat down on the couch next to me and smiled. Afraid of an awkward conversation, I tried to move away from her to put some space in between us. She didn't notice and I was relieved on the inside. I thought she would get the point and leave the couch but she didn't and I started to sweat profusely and swear in my mind. I was going to punch a small child if she didn't get up.

"I also want to say I'm sorry," she said looking sincere. "For what?" I asked even more confused. "For calling Blair a slut," she responded. What was going on? Since when is Lily Evans nice to me and since when does she apologize for calling people names? Was she going through some kind of anger management program? What is this, 12 steps for Lily Evans? I was waiting for her to be like, 'Hi, I'm Lily, and I have a problem.' Her sincere expression never left her face. Maybe she truly was sorry. "Do you think we can just put all of this behind us?" she asked.

I sat there for a few moments acting like I was thinking about what my answer was going to be, when in reality, I was still trying to figure out what the hell was going on. I decided to accept her apology, "It's fine. By the way, I'm sorry for turning you into a frog," I said with a slight smile on my face. Lily burst into laughter.

"That was quite funny," Lily said through her laughter. I began laughing with her. When we both stopped laughing we, yet again, slipped into an awkward silent moment. Lily finally stood up and said, "Well, I have to get going," I let out a sigh of relief. I so desperately wanted to thank her for releasing me from this hell hole. She turned and walked towards the portrait hole. "Bye Lyla, see you around," she said waving. I waved back and she was gone. I had no idea what just happened and I didn't really feel like trying to find out.

Not too long after I had my strange encounter with Lily, Alexa and Bree had come back from breakfast. Following close behind them were James, Sirius, Bree, and, of course, Remus. I was still too upset to deal with people, especially Remus. Alexa must have noticed my concerned look on my face because she came up to me and said, "Hey, you want to go out for a walk and get some fresh air with Blair and I?" I looked up at her with a relieved smile and hopped up off the couch and linked arms with her and Blair as led them out through the portrait hole, avoiding any eye contact with Remus.

…………………………………………………………………

As Alexa, Blair and I skipped down the corridor back to the portrait hole, I suddenly remembered that there was going to be a good chance that Remus would still be in there and I would have to talk to him. I stopped skipping and Alexa and Blair also stopped to see what was the matter. "Why did we stop skipping?" Blair, who seemed to be overly enjoying our skipping, asked.

"Remus might be in there," I responded looking straight ahead at the portrait.

"That is a definite possibility, considering he lives there," Alexa said in a sarcastic tone. I shot a glare at Alexa. "Okay, look, I know that you are hurting, and I don't blame you, but you just need to act like nothing is bothering you. Don't give him the satisfaction of knowing that he hurt you. Just put a smile on your face and march through that common room like you own the place," Alexa advised me.

After a few minutes of thought, I decided to take Alexa's advice. "You know what Alexa, you are absolutely right. Let's go," I put a smile on my face, spoke the password to the Fat Lady and when the portrait swung open, I took a deep breath and walked through it into the common room with Alexa and Blair trailing close behind me.

Just as I suspected, Remus was sitting on one side of the common room, accompanied by James, Andy Ablo, Sirius, and Bree. I immediately steered to a couch on the other side of the common room and plopped on a couch followed by Blair and Alexa. The couch was positioned to where I could still see Remus, but if I needed to, I could hide from his sight.

All three of us were unintentionally staring over at the group. James was playing chess with Remus, while Andy played with his hair and was whispering, what I could only assume, were some sort of evil devil spells to strengthen her power over Remus.

"Look at them. They make me sick," Alexa said with disgust. "I know," I responded still staring at Andy and Remus. "I can't believe we were ever friends with her," Alexa added. I looked over to Alexa who was looking not at Remus, but at Sirius and Bree. I immediately understood my sister's disgust. Sirius was sitting in a chair with Bree straddling him. Bree seemed to be eating Sirius's face and was giggling and laughing so loud that you could most likely here her from miles away.

"That is utterly disgusting! She is literally sucking his face off. I don't see why anyone would want that on top of them," Alexa said shaking her head with anger as she stared at Sirius and Bree. Bree stopped kissing Sirius turned around suddenly and saw that all three of us were staring at her and Sirius. We all quickly looked away and Blair started whistling.

We all waited a while until we looked back over to where Sirius and Bree had been. Instead of finding Bree sucking Sirius's face off, we found an empty chair. "Where did they go?" Alexa asked searching the common room for Sirius and Bree's figures. Blair and I both shrugged our shoulders. "I'm going to head up to the dorms, do you guys want to go?" Alexa asked us.

I nodded my head and stood up. "No, I don't think I am going to head up yet. I think I will go and talk with James for a little while. I will meet you up there later," Blair told us. Alexa and I just shrugged and Blair walked over to where James seemed to be losing at chess.

Alexa and I started to make our way up the stairs to the dorms. We were talking about her new, very cute, tutor that she had gotten for Transfiguration when we opened the door to the dorms. Alexa stopped dead in her tracks and got silent. "What?" I asked. She said nothing, all she did was point over to her bed.

There, on Alexa's bed, was Bree, with her shirt off, and Sirius with his shirt half unbuttoned. Bree was ravaging Sirius's body and was making all sorts of weird noises. My mouth dropped open and I let out a small gasp. Sirius must have heard my gasp and sat up on his elbows and had a mortified look on his face. Bree slowly rolled off Sirius to face us with an evil smirk on her face.

"Oh, Lyla, Alexa. I am so embarrassed. I didn't hear you two coming up the stairs," Bree said nonchalantly. I looked over to Alexa, who I expected to be furious, especially since they were on her bed. Much to my surprise, Alexa was the opposite of furious, she seemed to not even be bothered by the fact that her ex-best friend was snogging and groping the boy who she used to like. My mouth remained open in shock as I looked back and forth from Alexa's cool face to Sirius and Bree. "I'm so sorry that you two had to see us like this," Bree said with a smug look on her face staring down Alexa.

"Oh don't worry about it. The fault is entirely ours," Alexa said with a warm smile on her face. My mouth opened even more. What was going on? I looked to Sirius, who seemed to be just as shocked and surprised as I was. "No need to stop on our account, I just have to get something out of my trunk." Alexa walked over to her trunk, rummaged through it for a moment and pulled a notebook out. "Please continue," Alexa said before turning to leave and walk back down the stairs back to the common room. For some reason I just couldn't move. I finally snapped out of it. Before I left the dorms though, I looked back at where Bree was sitting unsure of what had happened and Sirius was sitting with a semi-angry face. Preparing myself for what I was going to say I took a deep breath and gave them my best bitch attitude.

"You _disgust_ me." And with that I spun around and scurried out the door. I'm proud to say I did not trip like Alexa would have. When I got to the bottom of the stairs, Alexa was waiting there for me looking down at her shoes. "Hey don't worry about it. You know they won't last," I added reassuringly.

Alexa just looked at me and simply said, "I'm not worried about it. I honestly don't care what they do; so don't worry about me because I don't care. I do not care at all." Even though she said she 'didn't care', I knew Alexa better. She always would repeat stuff when she was angry, but I wasn't about to press the issue (especially since she didn't care).

We both returned to the couch that we had been sitting on before. After a few moments of silence, I remembered the conversation that we were having before, well you know. "So Alexa, tell me about your new found interest in Transfiguration," I said looking quizzically at her.

When I said this, Alexa's face lit up and she scooted a little closer to give me all the details. "Oh my god, Caradoc is so nice, he is very funny, and not to mention, unbelievably gorgeous!" Alexa squealed. "He is extremely smart, has a hot bod, as I'm sure you already know, and he is good at quidditch. He is pretty much the perfect guy. I personally just can't wait to have another Transfiguration class. I have never wanted to study more than I do now," she said through her laughter. I couldn't help but laugh at the thought of Alexa in a library, let alone in a library studying.

I noticed that Alexa's gaze drifted over to the stairs going up to the dormitories. I also shifted my gaze there. Bree had just emerged, with Sirius right behind her. Her hair was unnaturally untidy and her shirt was buttoned wrong. Sirius, on the other hand, had managed to button his shirt right and had a dazed look on his face. They both headed over to where Remus, James, and Andy were.

Blair had made her way back over to us and plopped onto the couch right in between Alexa and I. "Did you see them?" Blair asked nodded towards Sirius and Bree. She had no idea how much we actually saw of them. I shuddered at the thought. "So did anything interesting happen while I was away?" I looked at Alexa and we both started to laugh hysterically. "What? What happened? What are you guys laughing at?" Blair asked with a very confused look on her face. We both just laughed even harder and all three of us made our way up to our beds.

The next morning, after breakfast, I went to the library to write my paper for Ancient Runes. Right when I was in the middle of writing a sentence, some one put their hands over my eyes. "Guess who."

I let out a sigh, "Alexa, I have been your sister for 16 years, I know your voice."

"Why must you crush my dreams?" she asked jokingly. She knew darn well that I don't like to be interrupted when I study. However, ever since 1st year, she has always seemed to disregard this rule.

"I don't have time for games right now Alexa. I have a…" I was cut off mid sentence because someone had called my name from behind me.

I turned to find Lily standing behind me. "Hey Lyla, I just wanted to remind you that we have prefect duties tonight. We are going to meet in the Great Hall at the usual time," I smiled and nodded. "Okay, well, see you later tonight." Lily waved goodbye and then scurried out of sight.

When I turned back to face Alexa, she had a curious look on her face. "Umm, what was that all about?" she asked.

"You know what, I'm not even quite sure," I said truthfully, "but that is really the least of my worries. I have prefect duties tonight," Alexa motioned with her hand for me to go on because she didn't understand the severity of the situation, "I have prefect duties tonight, with Remus."

"OH, well that sucks," she said. Oh how I loved my sister. You can tell she really cares about my problems. I stood and collected my books and headed out of the library. "What? Was it something I said?" Alexa shouted after me.

After dinner, I knew that the time for me to go do prefect duties was near. The end of my life was inching closer and closer with every second that went by. To say the least, I was not looking forward to spending the whole night with Remus. Maybe Lily would pair us up with different people, oh I hope so.

When the time came for me to face my doom, Blair and Alexa bid me goodnight, and I headed down to the Great Hall. By the time I had gotten down to the Great Hall, nearly all the prefects had arrived. "Okay, we are going to go ahead and get started," Lily said in a very assertive voice. "We are going to split up tonight again with the same person you were with the last time." Shoot, I thought to myself. I looked up at Remus, who was giving me a weak smile from across the room. "Alright, so off you go."

Remus slowly made his way over to me. "Hey," he said in almost a whisper. I just turned around and completely ignored him and walked out of the Great Hall and went up to the 3rd floor to patrol. The sooner we patrolled the floor, the sooner I could leave.

After about an hour of silence, Remus spoke, "How long are you going to not look at me?"

"As long as I want to," I responded coldly.

"Will you please just look at me and talk to my face."

"No, I think you can 'wait just a little longer," I said making quotation marks with my fingers.

Remus grabbed my arm and jerked me towards him. "What is your problem?" he asked me.

He seriously had the nerve to ask me that? "_You_ are my problem," I spat at him yanking my arm out of his grasp.

"This is really stupid," he said raising his voice.

"Oh yeah? Well, it's your fault," I shouted poking him in the chest. At this moment something happened that completely caught me off guard. Remus grabbed my face and kissed me with so much passion that when we separated, I had to catch my breath and balance. It was probably the most amazing kiss that I had ever had. I stood there for a moment just looking at him, then I did something completely out of character.

I threw myself at Remus kissing him as passionately as I could. Remus stumbled back against a wall as I wrapped my arms around his neck. He entwined his fingers in my hair, and quite frankly, we went at it. As Remus kissed my neck, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I shifted my head to see better, but I wish I hadn't. When I looked down the corridor, I saw someone who could most likely destroy my life. Only a few feet away from where Remus was nibbling on my neck, stood none other than Lily Evans, a.k.a, Andy Ablo's best friend. Super!

I tried to push away from Remus but his hold around me was too tight. "Hey, Remus. Remus, um, stop for a second," I said still looking down at Lily who had a shocked and scandalous look on her face.

Remus finally stopped and looked into my eyes, "What? Did I do something wrong?" I looked down the corridor raising my eyebrows towards Lily. He slowly turned his head and whispered under his breath, "Shit." Remus quickly stepped away from me and we both turned to face Lily. She stood at the end of the corridor with her arms crossed and her foot tapping a steady rhythm on the floor. I looked over to Remus who shared the guilty look that I had on my face.

Lily slowly motioned with her finger for us to come to her. I started to move towards her but Remus wasn't moving with me. I looked back to him and said, "Remus, come on," he shook his head at me with a scared look on his face. "Seriously Remus, come on," he yet again shook his head, "get up here right now!" I said grabbing his arm and pulling him along with me.

The walk over to where Lily was standing, seemed to be miles long. As our walk of shame came to an end, we stopped right in front of Lily, keeping just the right amount of distance between us. I was really nervous as to what was going to happen. Lily was known to have a really bad temper, and I was afraid. Lily opened her mouth and I panicked, "Lily, it's not what it looks like!" What was I saying?

A slight smirk crept across Lily's face, "Oh good, because it looked like you and my friend's boyfriend were snogging, but it's not what it looks like so, that's a relief."

"Okay, so it looks exactly how it looks," I said, Remus shooting me a glare.

"Lily is there anything we can do to get you to not tell Andy about any of this. I want to be the one to tell her, I don't want her to find out from someone else. So is there some kind of deal we can work out between us?" Remus asked looking hopeful.

Lily remained silent for a while thinking tapping her finger on her lips. She let out a sigh and said, "You come to me with a proposition tomorrow evening, and I will consider it."

I felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. With out thinking, I lunged forward and hugged Lily. "Thank you so much! Did I ever tell you you're my hero?" I said hugging her tighter.

Lily patted me on the shoulder and said, "Okay, let's not go overboard here." I released Lily from my grasp and she turned to leave saying, "I will see you tomorrow evening." And then she disappeared into the night.

"Bloody hell, that was close," Remus said sliding down the nearest wall to sit. I walked over to where Remus was and sat beside him. He took my hand in his and looped his fingers between mine. I leaned my head against his shoulder.

"Now, all we have to do is figure out a way to bribe Lily so she won't tell Andy," I reminded him. "Got any ideas?" I asked.

"I have absolutely no idea. Do you?" I shook my head. "Who do we know that can easily manipulate people and get them to do anything they want?" I immediately thought of someone who had basically been manipulating people his whole life. The person in question, was, of course, Sirius Black. Ever since first year he had always manipulated girls with his so called charm. I mean, if you think about it, he can get a girl to do what ever he wants them to do, it's really kind of sick when you think about it. In any case, I really didn't want to have to ask Black for any sort of help at all, given my current view of him, I decided to keep my revelation to myself. Remus's face lit up and he opened his mouth with excitement and said, "I know the perfect person, Sirius!" joy. It looks like I will just have to suck it up and ask Black for help, but you can be darn sure I am going to be as mean as possible about it.

Remus hopped up off the floor and pulled me up. We hurried back to the common room to see if Sirius was still awake. When we entered the common room, we found Sirius sitting on a couch, shockingly reading a book. We approached him and Remus said, "Sirius, are you reading?"

Sirius looked up from his book and responded coolly, "Why yes I am, my good man."

"You can read?" I asked with a cold sarcastic tone.

Sirius had a small smile on his face. "Yes, my dear Lyla, but I try not to make a habit of it," he said. "What can I do for you two this evening?"

"We need your help, Padfoot," Remus said plainly.

The smile on Sirius's face widened, "Hmm, a Parker sister asking me for help? I thought this day would never come. Let me just have a moment to savor this moment," he said closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

I rolled my eyes as he 'savored the moment.' "I don't need your help. I just need a suggestion, not help,"

"You are just as stubborn as your sister, but I am willing to lend my knowledge to you. I think of it as educating the less fortunate," Sirius said leaning back against the back of the couch. What a wanker. "Tell good old Sirius what the problem is. Did someone finally catch you two?"

My eyes widened, "You know?!" I asked.

"Of course I know, I'm Sirius Black, I know all," he responded casually.

"How did you find out?" Remus asked looking at Sirius quizzically.

"Well, it's really wasn't that hard to figure out. All the stolen glances and the secret snogging. I am honestly surprised that more people don't know."

"Did you tell anyone?" I asked hoping that his answer would be no.

"No, Moony is my best mate, I wouldn't hurt him," he said patting Remus on the shoulder. "So tell me who found you two doing your dirty deeds."

Remus told him how Lily caught us, and when he finished, Sirius rubbed his chin. Sirius finally leaned forward to say something. "Okay, so here's what you do, you lure her into a dark corridor. You then you take 6 feet of rope and tie her up and lead her to one of our secret passage ways. Then you simply just bribe her with sex, drugs, and a little rock n' roll," he said with a proud look on his face.

"That has to be one of the stupidest things I have ever heard in my life!" I shouted at him. He was zero help, I knew we couldn't count on Black. "Thanks for the suggestion, but no thanks. I think we will manage just fine without you."

"Have it your way. Good luck coming up with something as brilliant as what I came up with," he said shrugging and getting up to leave. "'Night Moony. Lyla, always a pleasure," he said flashing me a smile. I just rolled my eyes at him.

As Sirius made his way past us, I had a stroke of brilliance, as I often do. "I've got it!" I excitedly proclaimed, "You know how the prefects are in charge of the Halloween dance on Saturday?" Remus nodded his head, "Well, that Saturday is also a Hogsmeade day and the prefects have been asked to skip the Hogsmeade trip to stay and set up for the dance. So, we should offer to cover for her so she can go to Hogsmeade."

Remus sat there for a moment and then said, "I think that might work. You are amazing," he said kissing me on the cheek. Remus pulled me up off the couch and walked me to the stairs leading up to the girl's dorms. Before I turned to go up the stairs, Remus grabbed my hand and pulled me towards him. "Goodnight, have sweet dreams," he said kissing me again, but on the lips this time.

When he released me from the kiss, I couldn't help but blush. "Goodnight," I said before turning to head up to my dormitory. At that moment I had a feeling that things would be looking up real soon.

* * *

Blue's Authors Note: Yay! Another chapter, another stroke of brilliance! Hehe. But, after all this work, we author's could really use some reviews. I guess we'll just have to bribe you with your very own Marauders! Leave a review and I'll get back to you on what you'll receive. Leave a review! Lol. And thanks for reading!


	7. Best Friends are Worse Enemies

Disclaimer: If I owned any rights at all to Harry Potter, I would be holding J.K. hostage and forcing her to write me more of the already awesome (but rather short) prequel. In these cases, I do not own anything you recognize as Rowling's.

The Best Author Author's Note: So, I haven't written a chapter in awhile. I'm so super sorry that I haven't even written something short for you. I do have something special for you though. ONE REALLY, REALLY LONG CHAPTER! Seriously, it's super long. I hope that this more than makes up for my inattentiveness and my rambling. I will also apologize in advance for the ramblings of Alexa in this chapter; she's going through a change so she tends to ramble. Anyways, I just want to tell you all that I love you and thanks for sticking with this story! And I just want to inform all of you that I had this all planned out in my head…and then I started writing and it came out differently, but oh so satisfying! Enjoy it too! Please!

Don't forget to show us some love!

Oh, and I just want to warn you all that there is a rather um, _crude_ saying in here. Sorry if that offends.

Read On!

_--_

_Best Friends Are Our Own Worst Enemies_

_Alexa's Point of View_

In everyone's life, there will be one moment of time where you wish you could just stop and remember it forever. Throughout all my sixteen years, I have had numerous moments that I wish I could preserve, but this one took the cake (in a manner of speaking). Currently I was crouched behind an old suit of armor that kept peering over his silver shoulder at me and I was watching the scene in front of me. Almost four days after Lyla and Remus had been caught doing the dirty things in the corridor, they had decided to execute their plan on an unsuspecting Lily Evans. I had the proud pleasure to watch.

We were in a remote corridor next to some empty classrooms, where I had brought Lily saying that there was something that Professor McGonagall wanted up here. She, being the goody-two-shoes that she is, followed me blindly and as we rounded the corner I pushed her to where Lyla and Remus had been waiting. Now, they were all standing awkwardly in a triangle, none of them willing to speak yet.

Remus gave a sigh and finally opened his mouth. "Lily, I know that you found Lyla and I earlier this week doing some things that some people might deem inappropriate," He was cut off by Lily letting out a indignant huff and waited until she was finished rolling her eyes to continue speaking. "While I don't believe either of us are exactly sorry for what we were doing, we have decided that we shall take you up on your offer of bribery."

Lily crossed her arms over her chest and shook her red hair from her eyes. "I don't like to think of it as bribery. It makes me sound like a corrupted government official or something." I saw Lyla straining to keep her smirk to herself while I smiled from behind the suit of armor. If Lily wasn't such a bitch, I do believe she would fit right in with our group of friends. "Let's just call it an exchange of fortunes." I really did laugh at that and her head whipped around to see where the noise was coming from. I put my hand over my mouth and was saved by Lyla.

"Okay, so for this 'exchange of fortunes,'" Lyla said using air quotes around the new term, "We thought that since you're basically in charge of this Halloween dance tomorrow and since you can't go to Hogsmeade with the rest of the school, Remus and I would cover for you so that you could go." Lyla and Remus smiled identically and Lily pondered this idea for a moment.

"While that all seems fine and very tempting, I wonder, how is it that I'm supposed to get in and out of the castle without being seen by a professor? Also, what am I to do if a professor doesn't believe whatever excuse you give for me being absent from my duties?" I rolled my eyes at Lily's lack of adventure and was making a face behind the suit of armor when I felt something brush my arm. Sucking in a deep breath and closing my eyes, I readied myself for either a blood-curling scream or a devious right hook.

"Please don't hit me." I heard in a familiar, rushed whisper. I opened my eyes to find myself staring into the steely grey eyes of someone that I didn't have the wish to speak to or see for the next 15 years of so. I felt more than heard his hot breath on my cheek and I turned my head so fast that my braided pigtails hit me in the eye. Damn him and his stupid way of making me feel like an imbecile at the worst possible times.

"Just don't speak to me, Black, and maybe I won't have to hit you." I winced a little as my words came out harshly. Okay, so I'll admit it, I was being a right wanker. But then again, so was he. I knew that I shouldn't be acting like this; hadn't it been me who had told him that nothing that had happened between us made any difference to me? Before I could make a bigger idiot of myself, I tuned back into the conversation going on outside of my hiding spot.

Apparently, I hadn't missed much. Lily was still trying to have Remus explain the secret passageways and Lyla still looked like she was going to jump off a building if all this didn't end soon. "So, let me get this straight; I follow Black or Potter out one of these passages, get in to Hogsmeade where someone will hand me a map, and I'll be fine as long as I find one of your other friends before it's time to come back for the last of the preparations?" Lily asked while still looking skeptical. I knew as soon as the words left her mouth, someone was about to blow a gasket.

"Yes, for the third and final time, Lily! That's how you do it. Now, do you think that you could maybe tell us if you're going to go for the whole deal or not? I'm bloody tired and I want to go get dinner before I have to help Alex find her Transfiguration stuff." Lyla and Lily were now staring at each other, getting ready for a throw down. Giggling slightly, I turned almost subconsciously to my hiding companion. I sobered up as he looked at me with a stunning ferocity, and I found myself looking at his lips as he watched me.

"So you're studying later in the library. With Dearborn. For Transfiguration." He said each short sentence as a statement rather than a question, and I watched as his mouth formed each letter. I nodded my head and we continued to watch each other, slowly moving closer in the small confined space. He was still whispering and I felt like I was under some sort of spell.

"And you and Bree are still a thing. Which means that us being this close shouldn't be happening, we shouldn't even be talking together." I said without thinking, even though the last thing I wanted him to do was move away. I could feel the warmth radiating off his body, and I wanted to hug him, but I didn't want to hurt Bree. Even after all this time, I still didn't want to hurt her. "So we can't be this close, Black. You need to move." My mouth was barely moving, but I knew he could hear me by the way his face fell slightly, like he was losing some precious toy that he wanted to have but couldn't get.

"And this is what you want me to do?" He asked, his mouth moving to speak into my right ear as I closed my eyes and tried to focus on what Lily's answer was going to be to Remus and Lyla. Being this close, I had to think of anything to keep my mind off the 16 year old male sitting so close to me.

"Yes." I whispered quietly, and suddenly his warmth and his breath were gone. I opened my eyes to find him standing away from me, smirking slightly. I bristled.

"Okay." He spoke at the same time as Lily had and I whipped around in time to see Lyla jump up and hug Lily briefly. "Thank you, thank you!" She was saying over again, while Remus smiled and looked relieved. I sighed, feeling like the weight of not worrying about my sister having her face punched in was only being replaced by the weight that I had almost fallen for Sirius' tricks again. Speaking of which..

I turned back to Sirius, who was leaning against the wall behind the armor and smirking at me. "What's wrong, Lexi? You don't look too happy with this little predicament." I knew his words were meaning two different things and my anger bubbled up inside of me again.

"Get out of my face, Black," I tried to walk past him and into the open where I could find Lyla and get to dinner, but his hand sped out and grabbed me before I could get by. "Don't touch me, or I swear you will not know what's coming for you." I threatened as he leaned in closer to me.

"I think you want this, Lexi. The thrill of doing something you know you can't do. You want that." His words were meant to seduce me, at least so I thought, but I wasn't going to be falling for that one. Wrenching my arm out from under his hand, I narrowed my eyes to slits.

"If I want to do something bad, I'll ransack the Slytherins." In what seemed to me as a last attempt, I found myself being pulled back around and pushed against the armor, a little rougher than necessary. Before I knew what was happening, Sirius had captured my lips with his and was giving me the most searing kiss I had ever experienced. Coming back to my senses, I shoved him roughly in the chest and he staggered away from me. "I warned you once, Sirius. Don't. Touch. Me." With a resounding smack that echoed off the empty corridor walls, I had slapped Sirius stingingly and, if I do say so myself, walked off in a very dramatic and satisfying way.

That is to say, if I hadn't tripped on the suit of armor as I went in search of the others. But I suspect that the armor had done it on purpose. It seems everyone is out to get me these days.

As I basically sprinted down the stairs to the Great Hall, I almost sped past Lyla who was waiting for me outside of the main doors. "Slow your horses, Alex, you look like you're running from your death." I put my hands on my knees as I caught my breath and she raised an eyebrow questioningly at me. I held up a hand as I sucked air into my lungs, exhaling all the carbon dioxide out of my body. Have I mentioned that I need to start working out or doing something?

"Let's get into the Great Hall before the Golden Couple get there, I would like to keep my dinner down tonight." I said as I searched around the Entrance hall for said couple. It's Bree and Sirius, if you were wondering. Everyone in the school talks about how cute they are together; both popular and beautiful, both conniving little bitches. Even the first years are obsessed with how adorable they are together. Whatever, gag me. "That sounds like a plan, but don't think that you're going to get out of telling me why you were making a fool out of yourself by running through the halls like that."

I nodded briefly and straightened up before we entered the Great Hall. The great hall was crowded as usual and the sounds of life and merriment filtered in around us. I'm sure that we both felt the giddiness in the air, but Lyla and I looked at each other with a sort of forced cheerfulness. While I knew why I wasn't feeling my best, I looked carefully at Lyla to see what was wrong with her. "I'll tell you when we get to the table and can talk with Blair." She whispered from the corner of her mouth, having the ability to read my mind like most siblings seemed to be able to do.

"Alexa! Lyla! Come over here, I saved you seats." Blair called from her spot next to James at the Gryffindor table. With an exchanged glance, Lyla and I made our way over to where she was waving. I sat down across from Blair, while Lyla sat on my left, leaving an empty seat between where Remus was sitting. "As your best friend, I know that something is wrong. Not only by the dejected way that you just sighed, Lyls, but also by the way Alexa is sitting like she has a straightening charm on her back." Taking a breath, I slouched more as Blair continued. "So, what I'm trying to say is, spill it."

Glancing around nervously at James, who was seemingly engrossed in his food while Peter sat talking to him, I looked back to my best friends and motioned them to come closer. "You know how I was 'spying,' that term used loosely, on Remus, Lyla, and Lily while they spoke?" I waited for their responses (a nodding head and a smirk) before continuing. "Well, I was just sitting behind a suit of armor when someone crouched down behind me. Being me, I thought it was a Slytherin or someone who would want to hurt me and I almost hit them."

Lyla groaned while Blair laughed quickly. "Please tell me you _didn't _hit them. I don't want to come to your rescue if you get detention again." Lyla said while I heard a muffled snicker from across the table. All three of our heads whipped around to see James, his face flushed red and a small smirk on his face, continue eating his potatoes like nothing had happened. I rolled my eyes as Blair hit her boyfriend playfully on the back of his head.

Leaning back in so to speak more privately, I answered Lyla. "No, I didn't hit them, but now I wish I had."

"What? Why would you want to hit someone who wasn't a Slyth…" Blair broke off as her eyes widened in realization. I pursed my lips and nodded. "Oh, well then. I wish you had hit them too." While Lyla glanced around at us, confused because she didn't know what we were talking about, I used my peripheral vision to see James. It looked as though his ears had perked up just a bit when he heard that Blair had realized who I was talking about. See, the thing was that even though James and Black are practically brothers and since Blair dates James and should therefore be friendly towards Sirius she is most definitely not. I was happily surprised that as soon as I professed my hate towards Sirius, she quickly took my side in ignoring the cheeky bastard and glaring at him every chance she got.

Sure, it caused some tension between she and James, but he seemed to respect her opinion (and mine), and let the subject fizzle out. "What the heck are you guys on about now? Tell me who you're talking about and why you were running around like a chicken with its head cut off." Lyla whisper shouted at me. Blair rolled her eyes at Lyla and beckoned her closer.

"We're talking about you-know-who doing something that has obviously upset our Alex and that is probably why she was running around." Lyla nodded though she still looked confused and I sighed dramatically. "I'm talking about Black sneaking up on me in the hallway, proceeding to try to win me over and seduce me, and then kiss me." Simultaneously, three things happened: Blair and Lyla narrowed their eyes, James' fork flew out of his hand, and the doors to the Great Hall were flung open, revealing the Golden Couple in all their glory.

As James apologized to Remus, who had been hit by the fork, I looked down at my empty plate suddenly feeling myself lose my appetite. "He's coming over here with _her_, Alex. Are you going to be okay or do you want to go find your stuff for your study session now?" Lyla asked while covertly patting my hand to reassure me. The G.C. (Golden Couple, if you didn't realize) made their way over to our table and with panic I realized whom the open seat next to me and the one across from James were for.

I was getting ready to say that I wanted to leave when Sirius passed by us on the other side of the table. "Leaving so soon, Lexi? Not afraid that you'll trip over an inanimate object again are you?" Feeling my hands grip the table with so much force I thought it would break, I lowered myself back into my seat which was now smushed between my sister and my ex-best friend.

"Nope, I'm perfectly fine Black." I said while beginning to fill my plate back up with food that I didn't really want to eat. I turned to look back at Blair and Lyla but they were both staring at my plate. Wondering what was up, I looked down again to see a frog sitting conspicuously on my chicken. "Oh, that's okay, I wasn't that hungry anyways." I pushed the plate away and looked to my right where Bree was sitting. She looked over to Sirius angrily while emotions I recognized played in her eyes. Anger and hurt. Two things that I would have tried to find the reason for when we had been friends.

Turning away, I heard James whisper a 'not now' to Sirius and then the frog on my plate was vanished and James was giving me a small smile. I was going to say thanks when Andy Ablo screeched from the other side of Remus. "What do you mean you're not coming to Hogsmeade?!" I saw a slight smirk pass over Lyla's face as Andy got up and raced from the hall, heavy, black mascara rivers streaking down her face. Remus sighed, looked longingly at his food, then looked over to his fellow Marauders. "Wrap my plate for me, yeah?" and then without waiting for a response, he walked slowly from the hall with his hands deep in his robe pockets, book bag haphazardly hanging from his shoulder.

"Tough break there." Blair laughed as Lyla spoke in a not so sympathetic voice. I was laughing along as well and then Bree giggled from next to me. "Aren't you happy we aren't like that, Siri?" I paled at the horrible nickname, while Blair took on a disgusted face and James mimed puking. I didn't have to look at Sirius to know that he had winced. Hah! Serves him right.

He mumbled something unintelligent, and then Bree was reaching across the table for him. And so ensued the tonsil hockey game of 76'. Frowning and turning away from the couple was all I could think to do before I felt someone's hand pulling on my arm. "Let's get the shell out of here." Lyla said as she tugged me up. With one last look at the disgusting display of affection, Lyla, Blair, James, and I left the Great Hall.

"So where are we going to go now?" James asked while he held up a plate piled with food that he had obviously nicked from the Great Hall as we were leaving. "Assuming that that plate is for Remus, I guess we should go to the Common Room. I have to find my ever elusive Transfiguration stuff." I said as I walked up the stairs with my hands gripping the banister for balance. I didn't have to turn around to know that my friends were following, but I did turn when I heard heavy footsteps next to me. As I knew that Lyla's footsteps were light and quick and Blair's were in tempo with whatever song she had been listening to earlier, I had to assume that the footsteps were James.

I looked over to my side and saw James looking at me with concern in his hazel eyes. I tried to match my step to his slow ones as Lyla and Blair sped past us, each giving me a small smile that told me they knew what this all must be about. "Hey, Alexa, you okay?" James asked quietly and I was surprised for a moment not to hear his loud boisterous voice. You see, James had many ranging tones that came to him when he spoke. He used a loud, laughing voice with his friends, a slight authorative one when he spoke to teachers or to younger students, and a slow, soft voice when he spoke to Blair. Concern was one that I had never heard before; though I figured he used it with his friends when Remus was sick or 'going to visit his mother.' Which if you ask me was a load of bull.

Anyways, I looked up at James who had a good four or five inches on me and shrugged my shoulders noncommittally. "Of course, James. What could possibly be wrong with me?" I asked in what I hoped was a calm voice but it was coming out with more of a hysterical note. James grasped my wrist as I took a step up and I stopped to turn around. His raised eyebrow and slight frown told me that he knew what was going on. "No, I'm not really okay. But you can't tell anyone!"

With a surprised expression at my outburst, James pulled me up the rest of the stairs and onto the next moving staircase which would take us up a few more flights to the common room. "Calm yourself, Alexa, especially if you don't want everyone else to know." When we were sure that no one had jumped onto the stairs as they continued to move, James continued. "Okay, now, what is all this about? I know Padfoot was being an idiot, but I didn't think you still liked him."

I groaned and put my hands to my face. Did everyone know that I had liked Sirius as more than just an acquaintance? Sweet Circe! "He stole my best friend from me and ruined what I thought was a good friendship between me and him." At least, that's what I said; it seems that having my hands muffle the words and it came out as "Stosh fronda lee ruwha gustash bewu shoma." James let out a quick laugh that was silenced by the glare that I gave him as I peeked through my fingers.

"I'm sorry, I seemed to have missed that." He said through his snickering. I rolled my eyes and repeated myself and then waited to see if James would defend Sirius or not. When his rebuttal didn't come, I adopted a curious face and watched him for a moment. While different emotions played across his features, James' face became animated before he stopped and gave me a frown. "He's an idiot sometimes, Alexa. You just need to tell him to shove off and then maybe you two could talk it out or something," He paused and rubbed a hand over his face, "Did you ever pause to think that he might have liked you as more than just a friend?"

"Then why would he have snogged my best friend right after I thought we were going to be something more?" I came back with as I stepped off the staircase and began to walk down the corridor towards the Common Room. James' face registered what I said and I was less than surprised at the fact that he new about my little 'session' with Sirius awhile ago. He sighed and then shrugged his shoulders in defeat.

"I don't really know, Alex." I looked up at James quickly as we reached the portrait of the fat lady in her obnoxious pink dress. Really, what is the point of a dress like that? She's in a portrait for Merlin's sake. Anyways, where was I? Oh, yes, looking at James.

"Alex, huh? You do realize that I only let my very best friends call me that, yeah?" With a caught in the headlight expression, James tried for a smirk that wasn't the least successful. "I'm only kidding, James. You know that I consider you one of my best friends." I spoke the password to the gossiping portrait, who sniffed at me snootily, and James slung an arm around my shoulder as we passed through the hole.

"Well I feel so honored now!" He exclaimed as we went over to where Lyla and Blair were sitting, my Transfiguration things spread out on the table in front of them. Blair raised her eyebrow as James fell down across her lap and sprawled across the couch. "I was just informed by Alex here that I am one of her best friends." Laughing giddily, he clapped his hands together and smiled like Christmas come early.

Blair laughed and ran her hand through his messy, black locks whilst trying to get them untangled. "Don't feel to honored, Potter, she's been letting me call her Alex since we met." Ignoring the two bickering lovers, I looked to Lyla who was stuffing my things in my bag rather viciously.

"Let's not break anything, Lyls. I would like to actually _do _my homework this time." She glanced up at me and then dropped her hands from my things while pushing them over towards me. It was only after she glared in the direction behind me that I noticed she had her fist balled around a crumpled piece of yellow parchment. "Give it here. Let me see what's got your knickers in a twist." I pried the parchment from her hand while looking behind me to see Remus sitting by the fire reading a note.

As I looked from the note in my hand to the note over in Remus' hand I noticed that the parchment was the same coloring and was probably written at the same time. I sat down on the arm of Lyla's chair so I could read it with her.

_Game over, Parker. I'm not going to sit around and watch you try and steal my boyfriend anymore. So, you win. Remus and I are officially over. _

_Get a life._

_Andy_

"Oh, well, that sucks. The part that she told you to get a life and how she was using Remus as if he was some kind of prize. But, I mean, he kind of is the prize if you think about it. He's pretty attractive if you like that kind of dark, troubled soul." I looked up from my ramblings to see Lyla giving me a bewildered look. I backtracked immediately. "Not that I like him or anything. Shouldn't you be happy though? I mean, now you guys can bring your whole deal out into public and not hide anymore." Glancing back over behind me, I saw Remus get up from his chair, send Lyla a helpless glance, and then stalk up the stairs to his dorm.

"He doesn't want to bring it out into the open." Lyla said in a dark voice while shooting fire at him from her eyes. Not that she literally shot fire or anything. Anyways, I digress.

My eyes narrowed in on the boys staircase, scaring a first year who was making his way down them. He tripped and skidded down the last five stairs but this was of little concern to me as I was more concerned for my sister. "That's crazy! You know that he would give anything to be with you for real, Lyla, maybe he's just doing this so you don't look like a slag to the school. Dating someone right out of a breakup could do that for you." I tried to reason with her as she frowned and then looked down at her hands while shaking her head. I was about to continue when I felt someone tap me on my shoulder.

"You ready to study, Alexa?" I found myself nodding absentmindedly as I stared into sparkling blue eyes, rimmed in a darker blue that almost looked black. Caradoc smiled lazily and I found myself returning the grin while someone laughed behind me. Snapping out of the trance and flushing deeply, I turned back to Lyla who was handing me my book bag, now stuffed with all my things. "You going to be okay, Lyla?" I asked while lifting myself off her chair and standing next to Caradoc, who was politely interested in the ground and not eavesdropping.

"I'll be fine, Alex; besides, I've got these two buffoons on the couch to entertain me until you get back." There was a cry of protest as Blair shoved James, rolling him onto the ground, and then I was rolling my eyes as I slipped into what I hoped looked like a hardcore studier mindset. I think I probably just looked angry. "Let's go, then." I said to Caradoc, and together we made our way out of the portrait hole and to the library.

--

"Caradoc, this is so bloody boring I think that my eyes are going to fall out of their sockets." Rubbing the aforementioned eyes, I glanced at the boy sitting across the table from me who looked vaguely amused at the sight of me. Sigh. Who knew Transfiguration could be so stupidly boring; even with a cute boy trying to teach you it? "Can we at least take a short break?" I simpered trying my best to give him my puppy dog eyes. Rolling his eyes at me, Caradoc nodded the affirmative and shut my book gently.

We'd been in the library now for almost an hour and I had learned a bit, but not nearly enough to say that I was now fluent in the art of transfiguring things. Needless to say, these study sessions were probably going to need to be continued. Not that I minded or anything; if there was one thing I was learning it was that Caradoc was real looker. Not only that, but he was so kind and his voice could even drive McGonagall mad. Ahem. Anyways, I looked up to see Caradoc grinning at me and suddenly I realized that he had asked me a question. "Um," I started, racking my brain for something to say, "I think that is exactly right."

For a moment, I thought I must be right…..and then he burst into laughter. Okay, way to sound smart Alexa. "So you think that Madam Pince and Madam Pomfrey are lesbian lovers?" He laughed more and I felt my face flushing. Well, that is most certainly not what I thought he was going to say. "Come on, Alexa. I knew you weren't paying attention so I had to ask you something." He said when I glared at him pointedly.

"Yes, but did it have to be something so perverted?" I asked snippily. With another laugh, he got up from his chair and came to kneel down next to mine. Oh, sweet Merlin's hairy leg, he's not going to propose I hope. That would be terribly uncomfortable. He turned my chair and caused my heartbeat to quicken as he grabbed my hand. My _left_ hand. Solemnly, he raised his eyes to mine.

"Alexa," He said softly and I about passed out from sheer ecstasy, "Can you forgive me?" Oh, well that was a downer. But he does look so terribly cute right now, his auburn hair falling into his eyes. Acting without thinking, I reached down and brushed his hair out of his eyes. He smiled up at me and I felt myself grinning goofily. Note to self: must control idiocy around cute boys.

"I guess it all depends," I said as he rose from the ground and towered over top of me, leaving me eye level with…well, I think you can guess. I averted my gaze to look up at him slyly, "What will you do for forgiveness?" I wiggled my eyebrows up at him and then looked pointedly at his 'area.' He laughed loudly and I bit my lip to keep from grinning. Although, if I thought about it, I am really half-serious about this whole thing.

"Who's the perverted one now, Ms. Parker?" He questioned, and I joined in on his laughter. Sitting in the chair beside me, we continued to laugh until someone came out from behind a bookshelf. Quickly snapping my mouth together to silence myself if it was Madam Pince, I was surprised when I heard the person behind me speak.

"Alright there, Dearborn?" Good gravy, Black again. Biting my cheek to keep from saying something to him at not speaking to me, I watched out the corner of my eye as Caradoc smiled up at Sirius. "Not too shabby, Black. How about you, that's a pretty nasty shiner you're sporting." Sirius scoffed and for the first time since I knew he was behind us, I turned to look at him straight on and wow did he have a black eye. So, I didn't think that I had slapped him _that_ hard or anything, maybe he just bruised easily? As guilt began to fill my stomach, I watched Sirius reach up and poke around his eye.

"It's not as bad as it looks, really." Sirius lamented and Caradoc rolled his eyes at him. I could practically hear what he was thinking. "Hopefully it will be gone by the Hogsmeade trip tomorrow. I wouldn't want to have to charm my face or anything. That would kind of suck." He sent a look my way and I pretended to be engrossed in the closed book on my desk. _Way to look cool, Alex._

"I thought the dance was a costume party, so can't you just cover it up with some sort of disguise?" Caradoc asked perplexedly and I rolled my eyes at them. "He just doesn't want to cover up his girly features." I murmured under my breath, but I hadn't known that Sirius had ears like a dog (for real, they heard _everything_) until he growled at me. I'm not even kidding, the kid growled at me. Like he was an angry bear and I was a person who looked ripe for the eating. I stared at him, a little surprised, and watched as Caradoc looked back and forth between us.

"You two going to be alright or would you like to settle this alone?" He asked as he made to get out of his chair. I broke my gaze away from the heated grey stare, and looked at Caradoc as innocently as I possibly could. Putting my hand on his arm, I ignored Sirius as much as I could ignore a big, black cloud hanging behind me. "It's fine, he's being stupid. Besides," I said while pulling his book closer to us so he wouldn't leave to the other side of the table, "We're not finished studying yet." I subtly put extra meaning on the word study to see what kind of reaction I would get, but I was slightly disappointed when all I heard was Sirius turning to leave.

"Have fun tutoring the less fortunate, Dearborn." Caradoc laughed slightly while I pouted in my chair, glaring at the back of Sirius' black hair. "Don't get too close to her either! I think one black eye is her quota for the day." With that he raised a hand and walked back through the aisles of the library. Damn it all to hell! Caradoc was now staring at me with a tentative look, as well as an amused one, and I felt that he either wanted to run and was too nice to do so or he was just going to make fun of me. I kind of hoped it was the latter and not the former because I kind-of-sort-of liked him. Maybe.

Anyways, I continued to look down at the Transfiguration notes that Lyla had given me to borrow. When Caradoc didn't say anything, I let out a sigh and began to pack up my work. "Thanks for helping me out. I know it's not been an hour yet, but I'm kind of tired so we can just call it," I didn't look over as I continued to try and organize my things like Lyla had done, but I stopped when I felt a rough, calloused hand on my arm. His blue eyes locked with my green ones and my breath hitched in my throat.

"Did you really give him that black eye?" He asked while somehow drawing me in closer with just his eyes. I nodded my head weakly. "I admire you for taking Black down a few notches." He grinned and then did something that we would most certainly be reprimanded for by the librarian later, but I couldn't have cared less at that moment.

He kissed me.

--

"Alex, are you _positive_ that you want to do this? I mean, this is permanent and you can't take it off. Plus, if mom and dad find out," Lyla trailed off as Blair rolled her eyes and thumped Lyla in the back of the head. "She's sixteen now, and should be doing things by herself. Plus, if she was in America she'd be old enough to drive." Blair reasoned as Lyla rubbed her head and took turns glaring between Blair and I.

I laughed as I sat in the rigid, straight-back chair of Magical Methods of Masquerading or the MMM as most people commonly referred to it. I had no idea why it was called that, but I do know that it has nothing to do with masquerading. It does, however, have everything to do with clothes, shoes, and piercing. Which is why I was sitting in this god-awful chair and twisting my hands together in my lap. Nervously, I might add. Late last night, when I had finally made it out of the library, then out of the Common room into my dorm, I had decided that there was something about me that I didn't quite agree with.

It was the fact that I was plain. I wasn't as intellectual or witty like Lyla, I wasn't bubbly and carefree like Blair, and I wasn't striking like Bree. There was nothing about me that made me stand out from the crowd. So I had decided that today, in Hogsmeade, I was going to get a piercing. When I had told Lyla and Blair they had both been rather excited. That is, until I told the what type of piercing I wanted to get. Then Lyla had been pissed and Blair had grinned at me. "This is going to be so much fun!" Blair squealed as Madame M (go figure) came out with the piercing gun.

Per Lyla's request, we had gone through everything that would sterilize the gun and the plain, silver stud even though this was a top-notch place. There were people from school shopping in here, and I saw a brief flash of red hair go by us. Of course, Lily would have to be the one to come check out who was getting shot. Madame M told me to hold perfectly still, and I grasped Lyla and Blair's hands as I waited for the pain. Closing my eyes so I couldn't see her, I gritted my teeth when I felt something cold and smooth press against my flesh. "Here we go." I heard Lyla whisper and then…..

"Mother of Merlin's left, hairy ball-sack!" I screamed out as pain shot through my body. "Shit, shit, shit!" I repeated as Blair helped me fan my burning skin and Lyla laughed with Madame M as they went to get me some ice. Not caring who in the world could hear me or what the other people in the store thought of me, I began to feel queasy and I bent over to put my head between my legs. And that's when I saw the blood. "Holy hell, I'm bleeding!" I squeaked, terrified that something had gone terribly wrong. Blair brought me back up and examined the piercing.

"It looks fine, Alex, I think that it's going to bleed a bit. I mean you just got something akin to a needle shoved through your nose." Biting back the feeling of throwing up all over the nice clothes, I tentatively reached my hand up to feel my nose. I smiled to myself when I felt the tiny stud in my left nostril and was only a little frightened when I lifted my hand away and saw the deep red color that was my blood. "Does it look alright?" I asked earnestly and Blair ginned widely.

"It's like a whole new you, Alex." I squealed, in happiness this time, and pulled Blair into a hug just as Madame M and Lyla were coming out from the cleaning and kitchen like area. "Everything looks fine back there, so it's safe to say that your clean." Lyla stated like she was the authority in the business. Madame M rolled her eyes and gave me a towel that was wrapped around a big hunk of ice. I let her clear away the little blood that was left and then I held the ice up to my face. Ah, instant gratification.

She smiled at me when she saw that I was past the screaming part. "Now, it's going to be a little sore for a while, but you can take a potion for that. Also, it's got a charm on it so it heals properly but you'll still want to take care not to get anything in there. Make sure not to rip it, scratch down your nose harshly, and pull at it. That would cause it to reopen and become infected." I nodded my head and watched as Lyla began to mentally take notes. Dweeb. "So, it's okay to put make-up over the swelling, just make sure that you take it off later. That's about it."

I smiled widely at her when she was finished and she gave me a warm hug. "I love making people happy." Madame M said as she led us over to the register. "Now, I'm doing this for free because I feel like it. Is there anything you may want? Any rings for after you can change it?" I shook my head no, but I ended up buying some long dangly earrings for tonight's ball. After we had paid and were making our way out of the store, I finally looked at Lyla. "Do you like it?" I asked while trying to appear nonchalant.

"Besides the fact that mom and dad are going to kill you, I do like it. It looks just like you." I smiled at her and we linked arms, Blair joining us, and meandered through the streets of Hogsmeade. When we had reached the bookstore, Lyla pulled us inside and I finally got a good look at myself as we passed through the door. Everything looked the same, but yet everything was different somehow. My face seemed to be glowing, and despite the ugly swelling of the piercing site, I thought I looked pretty.

"There's Remus, I'll be right back." My sister said as she took off after the sandy haired boy like a woman on a mission. Blair and I made our way over to the center of the store where couches and chairs sat so people could browse the books before buying. "Do you have anything to reduce the swelling for me?" I asked Blair as I shoved my hands into my black, hooded sweatshirt's pockets.

"Do I ever not have something?" Blair asked rhetorically as she began to rummage through her purse. I dug around in my dark blue jean pocket and found my tube of chapstick. I put some on and then returned it back to my pocket just as Blair flopped down on to the couch beside me. "Hold still." She said as she furrowed her brow and went to work applying a bit of cream to my face. When she was done with that, we sat talking quietly on the couch and analyzing Caradoc when Lyla came stalking through the store towards us.

"What the hell," I trailed off as Lyla grabbed my hand, pulled me up from the couch, and took my bag as she dragged me and Blair from the store. She was red faced and fuming as she just about pulled our arms from our sockets and Blair and I looked at each other with scared faces. We were passing Honeydukes and I was staring longingly at the chocolate covered strawberries in the window when we suddenly came to a halt. "I'm not supposed to be here." Lyla ground out as we slid into an ally way.

"Calm yourself down, Lyla, what the heck are you talking about?" Blair asked, inching away from my sister as Lyla paced back and forth. Then I realized something and felt the pit of my stomach drop down to land on the floor. "The bribe. You and Remus are supposed to be up at school." I breathed out and the memory of Lily slinking around MMM was brought to mind. "Lily's in Hogsmeade and if Andy finds out that you and Remus were going at it while they were dating you are going to be so dead!" I said while Lyla's face turned pale and Blair gave me a 'why would you say that' look.

"Just get back to school, Lyla. Run." Blair said while trying to push Lyla forward and back onto the streets. "I can't just do that! Lily was in the bookstore talking to Remus and she saw us in Madame M's store. I'm so freaking screwed!" With a groan she put her face into her hands. Thinking fast, I looked over to Blair who was staring at me in the same way. We had to have a plan to get Lyla to school without Lily actually thinking that she had been with us. Blair opened her mouth to speak first.

"This is what we're going to do, Lyls. You make you're way to school as fast as you can. Don't stop to talk to anyone or anything, just keep going. Alexa and I will head off Lily." Lyla gave us a look that asked how. "I don't know yet but we're going to make this alright. Go!" Blair shoved Lyla one last time and Blair and I ran from the alley-way, just in time to see Lily exiting a store across the street. _Bite the bullet, Alex._ I thought to myself as I cupped my hands over my mouth and yelled out across the street.

"Hey, Evans, wait up!" Lily turned quickly and saw me waving. She moved to cross the street and we met in the middle. "So how are you? Enjoying your day in Hogsmeade, yeah?" I asked conversationally while Blair just smiled behind me. Lily looked between Blair and I, smirking but still looking suspicious. "I'm sure it is. Any who, we were just wondering if you wanted to go to Honeydukes with us, maybe get a drink at the Three Broomsticks later; we could discuss costumes if that sort of thing interests you?" I was rambling and both she and I knew it, but for some reason she was letting me continue on. When I was finished making an idiot of myself, Blair cut in.

"We just think that we should get to know you better. I mean, why have we never really become friends before now?" Blair tried to look as if she herself was trying to figure the same question out. Lily's resolve began to soften and I figured that now was the time to go for the kill. "So what do you say, Lily," She registered a little shock at me actually using her given name, "You up for some candy shopping?" We looked at her with identical faces, trying to get her to come with us. I felt a little bad because we were sort of using her, but then again, this may turn out to be really great.

"Sure, I guess. I don't see why not." Lily said and with the stress of asking her out of the way, we made our way over to Honeydukes where we could get the finest chocolate and candy for a low price. Sigh. Isn't it great? As we stepped inside the store, Lily turned to look at me. "I like your thing," She said while motioning to her nose. I laughed.

"Thanks, Lily. I just wanted to do something unexpected for once, you know what I mean?" She nodded and we made our way around the store, talking and occasionally laughing at one of the third years who were just coming in. They were gazing excitingly at all the numerous amounts of candy and the new types of things that they had probably never had before. "Look at the little kids. They're adorable! Do you remember when we were like that?" Blair asked while reaching down to ruffle one little girl's hair. The girl looked annoyed, realized it was Blair who was dating the popular James Potter, and smiled at her while blushing. Not that I wouldn't be annoyed, they were 13 so they weren't that little.

When we got up to the counter to pay for our things, the three Marauders that _weren't _supposed to be at school popped inside. "Blair-bear!" James shouted across the store and Blair narrowed her eyes while looking at her purse. "I wish he would just stop with that stupid name," She muttered before turning around to face him. "I thought I told you to stop calling me that?" She asked him, even though she was hugging him like he would fly away. From the corner of my eye, I saw Lily turn away from the couple and take interest in a display next to the counter. Whether this was from jealousy (doubt it) or from just being polite (probably) I didn't know.

"Okay, that's enough P.D.A for one day." Sirius muttered and I looked up at him. He wasn't looking at me, but I could still see that his face was a little bruised, but not as bad as yesterday. Hm, he must've gone to see Pomfrey. I turned away from him and looked to Lily who had finished looking at the display and had joined us again. "Hey there, Evans, what are you doing here with them?" Sirius asked obnoxiously. I wanted to hit him in the face with a shoe, or a package of ice mice, but I didn't get the chance before Lily took up for herself.

"For your information, Black, Alexa and Blair are very nice people." For a moment, their eyes locked and then Sirius backed off, raising his hands in the air in the sign of surrender. We stood in silence for a moment before James clapped Blair cheerily on the back, almost sending her flying to the floor if he hadn't had his arm around her. "On a lighter note, this Halloween bash is going to be lots of fun tonight." James spoke with a note of mischief in his voice. I nodded and then Lily and I began to walk forward, away from the rest of them and to the entrance/exit of the store.

I heard Blair telling James to meet us at the Three Broomsticks when he was done here, and then she was caught up with us. As the door shut, I heard a, "Did you see Alexa?" from one of them and then the door was closed. We continued to walk down the street in silence for a few moments and then, "I think we should go back up to Hogwarts." I looked over to Blair who was looking down at her feet and then to Lily who was looking at Blair with a surprised face. "I'm just not feeling too well." Her face was pale and she seemed to be sweating even though it was chilly outside. Brushing my curly hair away from my face, I linked my arm through hers incase she decided to faint on us.

"Okay, you should probably rest before this thing tonight." After we bid Lily goodbye, Blair and I made our way back to the castle. We had barely made it to the common room before Blair had hit the couch and fallen asleep, jerking my arm out as she plopped down. I sighed, and with a roll of my eyes pulled out my Transfiguration homework, vowing to get some work done before I partied it up tonight.

--

"I feel pretty, oh so pretty. I feel pretty and witty and…." I trailed off, forgetting the last word as I pirouetted around the dorm room, feathers flying around as I spun. For Halloween this year, I had the brilliant plan to be a peacock, hence the feathers that were now strewn across the room, my body, and through my hair. Blair and I had spent most of the afternoon after her catnap, painting my legs, arms, and face in different colors. The rest of my costume consisted up a tutu that was dyed a deep purple. I had piled my curly hair into a bun atop my head, and was wearing a head-dress of peacock feathers. I was the first one ready and I spun over to Lyla who was sitting in front of our mirror on the floor.

"It's gay. Pretty and witty and gay." Lyla said as she sat on the floor to finish applying her makeup. Raising my hands to my face, I looked in the mirror at the overdone eyelashes attached to my regular eyelashes and smiled. I had eyeliner drawn out from my eyes and underneath them, plus enough mascara on to last Andy a lifetime, but Blair had charmed it all so it would come off and so it wouldn't weigh me down. My sister, dressed up as an American Mobster, was not in such a good mood right now. She had been down in the Great Hall putting up decorations for the better part of the after noon and was tired and irritable.

"Okay then, you better watch yourself Lyls, I'm thinking you might pull a gun out of your bust at any moment." She glared at me as she glanced down at her pin straight black dress and pushed her hat down along her curls. She had her pin-striped black hat, thousands of pearls hanging from her neck, a huge diamond on her finger, and pumps on. Her make-up consisted of big, red lips, dark lined eyes, and powdered face. All in all, she really did look like a mobster. "Kidding, kidding." I muttered as I came over to help her off the floor.

There was a screech from the bathroom and I looked towards the door. It had been emitting those strange noises since we came up here to get ready and I stifled my laughter as Blair came wobbling out. She was dressed as a mermaid in a pink halter bathing suit top, a sparkly blue tail, and she was adorned in seashells. And they were _everywhere._ Like me and my feathers. She had them charmed to her skin as a bracelet, in her hair as clips, and on her 'tail.' She was barefoot like me and her hair was pinned back halfway.

"I'm going to kill myself before the night is over." She sighed as she stashed her wand in her tail. Kinky. Anyways, we were ready to leave now, and as we were the last people in the dorm, we shut the lights off and cast a quick cleaning spell to clean up all the feathers. I was so immature! I was still smiling at myself as we entered the Common Room where there were still some people hanging about. We saw Lily and Marlene talking by the entrance, both dressed as groupies to some muggle band, and I burst into laughter when I saw two people waiting for us on the couch. There, dressed as a spitting image of Professor Dumbledore (only with hazel eyes and not blue) and a scowling Professor McGonagall (only with playful grey eyes), sat Sirius and James.

"I don't think that I'm going to be able to dance with you tonight, James," Blair said through her giggles as she straightened up and looked at James with a smirk, "It's too creepy." With a twinkle in his eyes very similar to what the real Dumbledore would do, he stood up from the couch and extended an arm to Blair. Trying not to smile too happily, she took his arm and they walked towards the exit of the Common Room together. Which left Lyla, Sirius, and I in a very awkward silence. With his hands thrust into his (or I guess _her_) pockets, Sirius looked us up and down, rolling his eyes when he figured me out.

"Birds of a feather flock together." He said very scholarly like and I sent him a confused look while Lyla rolled her eyes. I swear, if we do that any more, we're going to have rolling eyes forever! That'd be bit freaky. "Either of you seen Bree?" Sirius threw out as he looked up at the staircases. Shaking my head no, I made my way to the portrait hole as well. As Lyla made her way to the boys stairs to wait for Remus and Sirius began to walk closer, I practically flew (ironic, right?) out the door and down to the Great Hall, probably leaving a feather trail behind.

The Great Hall was decorated miraculously in many different colors and there was jack-o-lanterns, bats, and candles floating around the room. Gobs of candy corn, caramel apples, and suckers littered the tables set up at various intervals in the for corners of the room. The main floor consisted of a impromptu dance floor and a stage where a band had been set up to sing and play. The dancing was well underway, and teachers were scattered around the room (some were actual students, some the real thing) to watch us and make sure we weren't up to anything too horrible.

"They did a terrific job, didn't they?" Someone from beside me spoke. I looked up at first, a bit alarmed to see someone who looked a bit like a punk-rock singer, and then recognized the person as Lily. She had gone full out groupie look, with the dark make-up, streaked hair, black nails, and chopped up t-shirt and jeans. I laughed at her super beat-up boots and she smiled. "You look great, by the way, have you taken flight yet with all those feathers?"

Sniggering, I bit my lip from laughing to much. "Almost on the way down here, but I got it under control pretty quickly. I need no broken bones." She nodded her head and we both turned to the dance floor, where I noticed her gaze went towards the odd couple of a mermaid and Dumbledore. The couple was laughing and spinning around in what you could call an interpretive dance. Or maybe not. "They really are good together, aren't they?" Lily asked me while continuing to stare at the couple. Blair laughed as James dipped her to the ground and then brought her back up; his fake beard swinging all over the place.

"Yes, they really are." I commented while looking down at my bare feet. I wiggled my toes to make the sparkly nail varnish twinkle in the low lighting and then I clapped my hands together when I saw someone at the candy table. "Have a good night, Lily; I'll probably see you out there." I gestured towards the dance floor, and then with a quick goodbye, I made my way over to where I saw Caradoc standing, dressed very cutely as Rhett Butler from _Gone With the Wind_. "You know if you twist the stem and say the alphabet the letter is of the person who likes you." I said from behind him as he picked up an apple dripping with caramel sauce from the table.

With a smile, he turned around from the table and held the apple in his caramel hand. "Let's see it then," Smirking he pulled hard on the stem, twisting one time. It popped off without a hitch. "Hum, that would be an A. Interesting." He grinned widely as I blushed and tried not to look too shy. _Don't freeze up or make an idiot of yourself, Alex. And please for the love of your Mum, don't lick caramel off his hands!_

Smiling and watching him bite oh-so-temptingly into the apple, I had to comment back, "Well, fancy that." I grinned even wider, proud of myself at the non-sexual, un-perverted comment. Making progress, I was. "So when you finish that apple, I know a girl who starts with an A that would love to dance." Demolishing the apple with ease and precision, he licked the caramel from his hand and smiled at me. Sigh. If that wasn't swoon worthy, I don't know what could be. Especially now that his lips probably tasted like caramel. Anyways…

So, ignorant to the thoughts going through my mind, I took Caradoc's hand and we went to the dance floor to commence having a good time. All was going well and I was laying my head on his shoulder as he held my waist during a slow song when I saw it; Bree, dressed as a flapper, slapped Sirius across the face and stormed out of the Great Hall. Sighing, I made myself stay in Caradoc's arms so I wouldn't go after my ex-best friend.

Did there always have to be drama?

--

Author's Note: Well wasn't that just a tasty chapter! I thought it was superb, but I guess my opinion is a little bias, oh well. Anyways, you guys need to leave oodles and oodles of reviews! And if you leave a lot of reviews, I will be ever so generous and give you another chapter! Yay! Enough of my rambling, GO REVIEW!!

Peace and Love,

Amulet Girl


	8. Redheaded Gypsies and Kinky Werewolves

Disclaimer: We don't own anything in the delectable world of Harry Potter, but if we did school would never start back again!

AmuletGirl's Author Note: Ello all of our adoring fans! So sorry for the long wait, I apologize. I had summer reading to do and I waited till the week before school started to read both of them, so yea. Once again I apologize and I hope one day you will forgive me. Anyways, here is the long awaited chapter. Hope you enjoy it! Now continue down and read read read!(and then of course, review review riview!!)

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_RedHeaded Gypsies and Kinky Werewolves_

_Lyla's Point Of View_

It was about 12:30 by the time we left the dance. We being Alexa accompanied by Caradoc, Blair, James and myself. Let me let you in on a little secret, when Alexa, Blair, and I get tired; we tend to act like drunkards. So there we were stumbling through the portrait hole as James and Caradoc just stood there and laughed at us. So much for chivalry. Anyways, after we said goodnight to the guys, we clumsily made our way up to our dorms. As soon as we made it into the dormitory we plopped ourselves down onto the nearest bed, which happened to be mine.

"Did you guys have a splendid time?" I asked followed by a number of mumbles coming from the two nearly incoherent girls on my bed. "Alexa, you seemed to be quite smitten with Caradoc." Alexa immediately sprung to life and the glazed over look left her face. I knew she couldn't resist talking about it. Talking about boys she liked was her weakness.

"Caradoc is just so perfect!" Alexa said with a dreamy look on her face. "Like you don't even know, he is nice, funny, has a hot body, charming, sweet, and did I mention he had a hot body?"

"Mm, yeah I think you mentioned it once or twice," Blair said hitting Alexa with a pillow, we both started laughing. In reality, whenever the subject of Caradoc came up, Alexa couldn't help but mention the fact that he had a hot body. It got rather annoying after awhile, but I couldn't really deny it. He really did have a nice body. Anyways.

"Seriously guys," Alexa said regaining her position after being knocked over, "he is just great."

"So, do you like him?" I asked eyeing her. Alexa is the kind of girl who doesn't say she likes somebody unless she really likes them. The only person she has ever said that she liked was Sirius Black, but she doesn't like to count him.

Alexa looked down and twisted her hands thinking. She looked up with a slight smile on her face, "Yeah, I think I do." Blair and I looked at each other and gave each other a knowing look. At the same time we both jumped on Alexa and hugged her. "Okay, if you guys are going to do this every time I like someone, I just might not tell you any more," she said swatting Blair and I away.

"Well, what about you, Miss Lyla? I believe I saw you dancing with a certain person dressed as a werewolf," Alexa asked eyeing me the same way I eye her.

"Yeah, so what? I danced with him just a couple of times. But I still don't think he wants to make our relationship public. So, let's just leave that subject at that," I said. Alexa and Blair both threw their hands up knowing well enough to just leave it alone for now.

Blair started to say something, but before she could get anything out, we all heard the door squeak open. Coming in through the door was a sobbing Bree. "What a sodding prat!" Bree said out loud to herself as she was looking down at the floor. "I am such a fool," she said closing the door behind her. She looked up and saw us looking back at her. Her eyes were extremely swollen and red. I could tell that she had been crying for quite a while. I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. "Oh, sorry to interrupt. I know that I am the last person you want to see, so I will just stay out of your alls way," she said as she made her way over to her bed.

I felt really bad for Bree, so I thought maybe we could invite her to come sit with us. I looked over to Alexa. I guess she could tell what I was thinking, because she was shaking her head no. "Oh come on Alex, you know there have been times that we all have been like that and Bree has helped us through them," I pleaded.

"Yeah, but that was before she stabbed me in the back and betrayed our friendship," Alexa retorted.

Blair must have felt bad for her too, "Look Alex, let's just help her right now, and then tomorrow we can go back to hating her, okay?"

Alexa sat there for a moment and then she turned to Bree, "Um, Bree," she paused and looked at Blair and I as we encouraged her to go on, "if you want, you can come over here and sit with us."

Bree turned and looked at us with a small smile across her face, "Really, you guys don't mind?"

"No, really it's fine. You look like you are having a tough time, what happened?" Alexa let out with a sigh.

Bree slowly made her way over to my bed and gently sat down in between Blair and myself. "So Bree, what's troubling you?" Blair asked patting Bree on the hand.

She looked down at her fingers and then looked up at Alexa, "Well, it's Sirius." Blair and I both looked over at Alexa. She surprisingly showed no sign of emotion at the mention of Sirius's name, especially coming from Bree. "He told me he was breaking up with me for another girl," she said with a shocked look on her face. To be completely honest, I wasn't the least bit surprised. I mean, Sirius has never been in a serious relationship, excuse the pun, and he is too much of a man whore to stay with one girl.

"Bree, you know that Sirius is a bit of a playboy," I explained to her, Alexa scoffed, "ok he is a huge playboy," I smiled at Alexa, "you just need to forget about him."

"I know, I just thought he had changed because I thought we had something special," Bree said with a sad tone.

Alexa suddenly perked up, "What made you think that what you had with him was any more special than what he has had with over half of the female population? You were just another one of his whores," she spat at Bree with a slight edge of bitterness.

Blair and I looked at each other with shocked faces. I'm not going to lie. I love my sister, and what Bree did to her was wrong, but that was a little harsh and unnecessary. As Alexa looked at Bree with blazing eyes, I had the strange feeling that something bad was about to happen.

Bree finally spoke, "Alexa, you should honestly know that I never meant to hurt you." Alexa simply rolled her eyes, "No really, I didn't. When you found out, you were so angry with me, and I don't blame you. I didn't know what to do. I felt like I couldn't talk to you. I had no friends because I definitely could go to neither Blair nor Lyla so I turned to Andy. I did the only thing I could think of, I just tried to make you feel bad, but I swear that was not my original intention. I know you all hate me and we will probably never be friends again, but I just want you to know that I am truly sorry."

After Bree finished, Alexa, Blair and I all looked at each other. She really did sound sincere, but I had a hard time trusting her. Alexa spoke first, "You're right, we won't ever be close friends like we were," Bree nodded her head solemnly, "but I forgive you for what you did. I'm probably a little bit to blame as well," Alexa extended her hand to Bree. She slowly grasped it and shook it as a smile spread across her face.

"We forgive you too," I said pointing to Blair and myself. As we sat there on my bed a little while longer, even though Alexa said she had forgiven Bree, I could tell that inside she still hadn't. She still felt resentment towards her, but I was very proud that my sister was being the bigger person and trying to make things right. I wonder where she gets it from.

That night I got little to no sleep. I spent the whole night lying in my bed awake thinking about Remus and how he doesn't want to tell people about us. I mean I don't get it, he was fine and dandy when we were sneaking behind his girlfriend's back, but now when we can finally stop sneaking around and be together, he doesn't want to. I was just so confused. I finally fell asleep around five o'clock in the morning.

When I woke up the next morning, I decided that I was just going to march right up to Remus and demand an explanation. Maybe I could wait for him in the common room and catch him before breakfast. I sat up in my bed and looked around to find that all of my room mates were still fast asleep. As quietly as I could, I climbed out of my bed and tip-toed over to my dresser.

I pulled out a pair of jeans and carefully slipped them on and then threw on a sweatshirt. Digging my hands into my pockets, I felt something small and round. The mysterious object that I pulled out was a piece of my favorite muggle chocolate candy. I sat back on my bed and gently began removed the crinkly foil around the tiny morsel of chocolate.

Before I had even peeled back half of the wrapper I heard a sudden noise come from behind me. I stopped immediately and looked over to my sister's bed. Alexa was sitting up on her side with her eyelids drooping heavily from tiredness. "Are you eating candy?" she asked.

Ah, the many talents of my dear sister. "No I am not, you must be have been dreaming about candy or something," I said turning to hide my candy.

Alexa took in a slow deep breath and then let out a sigh, "First off, you aren't good at lying and second, you are eating that muggle chocolate you like so much from back home," darn she was good, "now give your loving sister a piece so I can get this nasty taste out of my mouth." I turned around completely to face my sister who was smugly smirking at me. I broke the chocolate in half and reluctantly handed a piece to her. "What are you doing up at this ungodly hour?" she asked sitting up straight in her bed.

I looked over at my clock and then back at my sister, "Alexa, its 10 o'clock."

"I know. So why are you up so early?" Alexa had never been an early riser.

"Well, I was going to try to catch Remus before he went down to breakfast," I responded.

At that moment I heard some movement coming from Blair's bed on the other side of me. Blair had rolled over on her side and with her eyes still closed said, "I would wait till after he gets some food in his stomach. You know how boys are when they are hungry, they are nearly impossible. Just wait till after breakfast and then catch up with him." Blair was probably right. I would just wait and talk to him after breakfast. Speaking of breakfast, I was pretty hungry myself. "Why is it so early?" Blair asked. I rolled my eyes at my sleepy friend. I sometimes wondered if Blair was Alexa's sister instead of me.

After nearly twenty minutes of trying to pull my sister and my friend from their beds, we were all finally awake and heading down to the Great Hall for a late breakfast. When we entered into the Great Hall, instead of seeing the usual four Marauders all sitting there eating excessive amounts of food, I only saw James eating.

We made our way over to the Gryffindor table and crowded ourselves around James. He looked up from his plate, gave us a muffled hello and then returned to the plate in front of him. "Where are Peter and Remus?" Alexa asked while we all filled a plate for ourselves.

James swallowed the food that was currently in his mouth, took a sip of pumpkin juice and then said, "I have no idea where Peter has gotten off to, Remus is studying in the library, and Sirius is…"

Before he could finish his sentence, Alexa immediately interjected, "We don't care about that scum." She furiously was stabbing the eggs on her plate. James, Blair and I let out a stifled laugh. Alexa gave all three of us an evil look.

"Did you say that Remus was in the library?" I asked.

"Yes, you know how much he loves studying," James replied.

"Kinky," Alexa chimed in smiling. This was Alexa's new thing. After almost everything she would say kinky, and most of the time it wouldn't even make sense. But whatever, who am I to judge.

"Alex, you can't just say kinky when ever you want. You have to say it when it is relevant," Blair so kindly explained.

Being as stubborn as she is, Alexa replied, "I will say it when I want to. Kinky, kinky, kinky!" I shook my head at my foolish sibling and got up from the table. "And where are you off to?" she asked.

"I am going to go talk to Remus," I said. Alexa and Blair both shook their heads knowingly and then I turned and headed out of the Great Hall. As I made my way to the library I thought about what I would say to Remus. I came up with some stuff but all of it sounded stupid. I couldn't think straight. Before I knew it I was pacing in front of the library. To hell with it, I was just going to wing it.

When I walked in I immediately saw him sitting at the table that he always sits at. He was sitting there diligently reading a book. Every once in a while he would pause a moment and write something down on his parchment. He was so cute when he was studying; the way his forehead crinkled when he was really thinking and how he squinted his eyes when he was reading certain things. Snap out of it Lyla.

I slowly approached the table and stood there a moment to see if he would notice me. When he didn't I gently tapped him on the shoulder. He stopped reading and looked up from his book, "Oh, hi Lyla," he said with a smile.

"Do you mind if we talk for a minute?" I asked.

"No, not at all," he grabbed the chair beside him and pulled it out, "sit down." What a gentleman. I sat down beside him. "What do you want to talk about?"

I looked down at my fingers, took a deep breath. Here it goes. "You know I have feelings for you, and I think you have feelings for me. I just…"

He cut me off saying, "I do have feelings for you, a lot of feelings. I like you a lot, Lyla." He took my hand in his making me blush a little.

"If you like me so much why can't we be together and let people know? You don't have a girlfriend anymore, so what's the problem?" I asked looking straight into his eyes not breaking eye contact.

He sat there for a moment. This silence made me worry a bit. He broke eye contact first. He released my hand and looked out the window next to us. Finally, he turned back to look at me and then said with a certain sadness in his voice, "Well, Andy and I just broke up, and if I immediately started going out with you people might think that you are just a rebound girlfriend but you are so much more than that. I don't want people to think bad about you and think that you broke us up." He was right; I would kind of look like a hussy. But, I could tell that that was not the whole reason.

"Is there anything else? It seems like you aren't telling me something. It's like every time we start to get closer you push me away." When I said this, almost all the color drained from his face. I wonder what it could be. Is it that bad?

"I don't want to hurt you," he whispered to where I could barely hear him.

"You aren't going to hurt me," I said grabbing his hand. "If I get hurt, it will be my own fault. How could you possibly hurt me?"

He pulled his hand away a little aggressively. He looked at me with fire in his eyes, "You wouldn't understand," he said with a raised voice. He quickly got up from the table, took his book and walked towards the book cases.

I had never seen him like this. He was angry and I had no idea why. I didn't like seeing him like this. I got out of my seat and followed him hurriedly, "Help me understand," I yelled after him. Madam Pince gave me a loud shush as I rounded a corner. Remus was looking at the books on the shelves. I returned my voice back to a whisper, "I don't care what it is, no matter how big or how small, it doesn't matter. I care about you, and I hate seeing you like this. You can trust me. No matter what it is, it will never change my feelings for you. I just want you to be able to tell me things, be able to talk to me, and let me help you." He said nothing and just looked straight ahead at the books in front of him. It made me a little angry that he couldn't confide in me. I trust him with things, why can't he trust me. "Fine, I give up," I said. I turned and slowly started to walk out from behind the bookcase.

Before I got to the end of the aisle something grabbed my arm and stopped me. I turned and Remus pulled me back down the row of books and looked around to make sure nobody was around, "I do trust you. I am just afraid of what you will think."

"I will think the same of you no matter what," I said once again.

"If I tell you this you have to promise me you won't tell anyone, not even Blair and Alexa," he knew me all too well. I nodded my head. He looked around once more and then ever so quietly said, "I'm a werewolf."

Did he just say he was a werewolf? Was this some kind of Marauder prank? He has to be lying. "I'm sure you are. So really, what is it?" I said laughing. I mean could you imagine if that was true? I looked up at Remus who did not share in my laughter. I immediately stopped laughing. Oh my God! Could he be telling the truth? His face had not changed, he was not laughing one bit. Either he was being serious or he was an extremely good liar. I hoped it was the latter. I finally got the courage to speak, "Remus, are you being serious?"

His head dropped and he quietly said, "Yes."

Wow! Blair, Alexa and I had always had suspicions, but we never thought in a million years that it would be true. That definitely explains a lot. No wonder he was hesitant to get closer to me. I slid down against a wall and sat down on the ground. I fell sorry for the poor guy, having to carry this burden and not being able to do anything about it. No wonder he looked sad all the time. As I was thinking about all this, I realized that I didn't really care. I should probably be concerned, but I didn't bother me. I liked Remus before I knew he was a werewolf so why should that change now that I know. If anything, it will bring us close together, I hope.

Remus silently slid down next to me. "So I guess the other Marauders know right?" I asked. He nodded his head. "And those nights that you sneak out when it is a full moon has been because of this?" Again he nodded his head. "Alright, we can get through this, don't worry," I said smiling at him and patting him on his knee.

He turned to look at me with an extremely surprised and shocked look on his face. "What? It doesn't bother you in the least bit that I am a werewolf?" he asked.

"No, not really. I mean, sure, you could tear me to shreds if I got near you when you transform," when I said this his face grimaced, "but I will just be careful and stay away from you during a full moon and you can come to me when you are feeling back to normal. It's like we both have our time of the month," he raised an eyebrow, "you turn into a werewolf and I turn into a moody, short tempered bitch. They are kind of the same when you think about it." We both sat there for a moment and then busted out laughing.

We didn't realize we were laughing extremely loud till Madam Pince came around the corner and whisper shouted, "One more disturbance out of you two and I will be forced to give you detention!" We stopped laughing until she left and then quietly continued. It felt good to laugh once again with Remus.

When both of our laughter finally came to an end Remus said putting his arm around me, "I want to be with you and I want people to know; but let's keep it between us, and of course our friends, for now, just until this thing with Andy blows over." I nodded as I looked into his big beautiful eyes. He gently bent down and placed a kiss on my forehead. "Oh, and let's also keep my "furry little problem" between you, me and the Marauders." I nodded my head once again but not as confidently this time. We both knew that that was going to be a challenge for me. I had always told Blair and Alexa everything, but I was going to try my hardest to keep his secret.

He slowly tilted my head up towards his and softly kissed me on my lips. That kiss was then followed by several others in various places. As we snogged in between the two rows of books, I had a sudden rush of relief and a feeling that things were only going to get better.

Remus leaned into me and I carefully leaned back to where he was on top of me still furiously kissing. As I moved my elbow back to support myself I hit something. Before I knew it several books were falling off the shelves and were hitting Remus and me. We stopped snogging and I looked up at Remus just as another book fell and hit him right on top of his head. After the initial shock of the book hitting him, Remus began to laugh hysterically, I joined in soon after.

"Oh my goodness! My library! What have you two done to my beautiful library?" We looked up to see Madame Pince standing above us with a look of horror on her face and her eyes slowly filling with tears. She really shouldn't get so upset over things like this. She needs a man in her life. I digress. Remus got up and then grabbed my hand to help me. We both guiltily turned to Madame Pince, "A week of detention, for the both of you!" she shouted rather loudly. She really shouldn't be shouting in a library, but I was in no position to point that out. "Get out of my library, now!"

Remus took my hand and we both scurried out of there as fast as we could. As we walked back to the common room, after having spent the rest of our day outside walking and talking, we laughed about the previous events in the library, mimicking Madame Pince's face when she saw us lying in a pile of books. It was quite hilarious. When we got to the portrait hole, Remus remembered that he had to go and talk to McGonagall about something. He kissed me and told me that he would see me in the morning.

The common room appeared to be empty as I made my way towards the stairs to the girl's dormitories. As I got closer to the stairs, something caught my eye. It was Sirius sitting by himself looking thoughtfully into the fire. Well, this was odd. I decided to see what was up.

I slowly approached him and when I got close enough I tapped him on his shoulder. He looked up at me and I asked, "What are you doing down here by yourself?"

He looked back into the fire and nonchalantly responded, "Contemplating life, as I do frequently; please have a seat," he signaled to the open space on the couch next to him. I accepted his invitation and sat down beside him.

"Contemplating life, eh? How's that going for you?" I questioned.

"I have been thinking about the choices that I have made," wow maybe he is deeper than I thought, "and well, I have come to the shocking conclusion that just maybe, some of the choices I have made have been the wrong ones." I'm shocked that he just said that he was wrong, but I can think of plenty of wrong choices he has made, one being, choosing Bree over my sister.

"What are some of those wrong choices?" I asked, hoping I could open him up and see what Sirius's true feelings were.

"Well, choosing to go out with Bree," bingo, "people got hurt and I never should have done that." People like my sister. "I mean it really hurt when she called me a man whore." Oh my god, is he serious? Excuse the pun.

"You know, other people got hurt by that choice as well," I said sternly.

He looked at me and said, "Like whom?"

Could he really be that full of himself? "Like Bree and Alexa."

He quickly averted his eyes away from mine back to the fire. "We all make bad choices Lyla, I'm sure even you have made some bad choices." He's right, we all make mistakes, it is whether we learn from them that makes the difference. "Take Alexa for example; she chose to date that tool Dearborn. That was a huge mistake."

"How so?" I asked.

"Well, he is only dating her to get one thing and I think you know what I mean. She deserves someone that truly cares for her and will love her unconditionally, someone who is not only physically attracted to her but also attracted to her mentally and emotionally. She just deserves someone much better." Aw this was too cute! He totally still likes her. However, I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing.

"Why do you care?" I questioned.

He immediately became tense and defensive, "I don't care. I don't care at all. I was just saying that _you_ would want someone better for her." He looked over at me where I was smirking at him. "Listen, I don't care, okay?"

"Alright, I get it, you don't care," I said. He totally cared.

"Look, Alexa and I are working out our differences and we are going to be friends and that's it," he said.

Mm, had they really been talking to each other and working it out? Wow, that is really big for both of them. I never would have thought Alexa would talk to him, much less work out their differences. "Have you guys really been trying to work it out?" I asked raising an eyebrow at him.

Sirius raised his right hand up in the air and said, "Marauder's honor."

I still couldn't tell for sure if he was telling the truth but who was I to argue with the Marauder's honor. "Okay. Well, I am going to head up to bed," I stood up and started to walk towards the dormitory stairs. I looked back and added, "Goodnight Sirius." He smiled at me and then turned back to the fire.

When I got up to my dorm, I found both Blair and Alexa still awake. They both looked at me when they heard the door creak open. "Where have you been?" Alexa asked scooting over to make room for me on the bed.

"I was with Remus and then I was in the common room."

"Ohhh, is everything sorted out between you and Remus now?" Blair leaned in.

"Yea, everything is sorted, but he still doesn't want people to know about us, at least not yet, but I'm okay with it. I will wait as long as he wants me to, I just hope it's not forever," I added.

"I just he likes the whole secret love affair thing. That is pretty crespo," Alexa said.

Blair and I both looked at each other confused. "What on earth is crespo, Alex?" Blair asked.

"Crespo is Spanish for kinky. Didn't you know that?" Alexa said.

"Why would we know that?" I asked her.

"The better question is; why wouldn't you know that? It is such a fun word, crespo. It just rolls off the tongue." Alexa sat there for a moment rolling the R each time she said the word. I can't believe I am related to her. Blair and I just shook our heads. "What were you doing down in the common room?"

"Oh, I was talking to Sirius," I responded.

A look of disgust spread across Alexa's face, "Eww, why?"

"Why didn't you tell Blair and I you two were patching things up?" I asked.

"You guys are patching things up?" Blair asked her eyes widening.

"Who told you we were patching things up? We are doing no such thing!"

"Well, Sirius said that you two had been talking and working out your differences, so I just assumed it was true."

Alexa's eyes darkened. She angrily got up off the bed and started head for the door, "I'm going to kill him!"

Blair and I both sprang up and sprinted in front of Alexa to head her off. "Alexa, you can't just kill the boy," Blair tried to reason.

,

"Oh and why not? Nothing is going to stop me, not even you two," she said trying to push past us.

"Well, at least wait till tomorrow and do so everyone can see that you had the pleasure of doing it," Blair said. That had to be some of the dumbest reasoning ever.

Alexa slowly eased up and calmed herself. "Good plan, I will have all night to plan." She made her way over to her bed and slipped under the covers and laid there peacefully. Blair and I both did the same and peacefully fell asleep.

The next morning I woke up to footsteps pacing around the room. As I rubbed my sleepy eyes I heard a voice, it was Alexa's, "That son of a bitch. He is such an ass. I am going to kill him with my bare hands." I propped myself up in my bed and silently watched Alexa pacing crazily. I let out a little giggle and she immediately turned to look at me, "What are you laughing at?" she asked in a hostile voice.

"I'm laughing at you. You keep saying you are going to kill Sirius, but you do know you will have to go to Azkaban if you do," I told her.

"Yea I know, and I am willing to suffer the consequences. It will all be worth it in the end," she said confidently.

I started laughing harder, "Alex, you barely made through summer camp that one year and you think you can survive years in Azkaban. I would love to see it," I pointed out to my dear sister. Alexa just rolled her eyes, she knew I was right.

"I'm going to go find Black right now and give him a piece of my mind," she said as she made her way towards the door.

She was still in her pajamas and her hair was a mess, "Alexa, don't you think you should change first, maybe even take a shower; because nobody will take you serious the way you look now," I told her.

She stopped suddenly, "You're right, I will take a shower and then give him a piece of my mind," she said slamming the bathroom door behind her.

The slamming of the door woke Blair up. She groggily sat up in her bed and said, "What is going on?"

"Oh you know Alexa, she is in there taking a shower," I said. Blair nodded understandingly. "So how are things with you and James?" I asked her.

A huge smile spread across her sleepy face and responded, "It's really good. I like him a lot and he is one of the few people that get me. I can be myself around him and he makes me feel wonderful." They really were quite good together; they were just so damn cute together. Her smile slowly faded, "It's just now that I am dating him, it seems that Lily has taken an interest in him because he is unavailable now; and that scares me. I mean James was in love with Lily and I'm afraid that if he sees that she might even remotely like him that he will dump me and go chasing after her."

Now that she mentioned it, I had noticed Lily's new found interest in James. "Don't worry Blair, I think James really likes you and he says he is completely over Lily. Don't worry about Lily, just worry about you and James. That is the only thing that matters."

"I know I shouldn't feel threatened by her and she shouldn't bother me. She didn't bother me at first but I keep falling more and more in love with James and I am getting really protective. I keep telling myself to just let my suspicions go but I just can't! She is a horrid gypsy, Lyla, I swear it! She is playing mind games with me and she is trying to break me!"

Wow, Blair was kind of having a meltdown. A horrid gypsy? I'm not going to lie, that was kind of funny. Even though I didn't think Lily was trying to steal James away from Blair, being the good friend that I am I supported her. "Okay, listen to what we are going to do. We will spy on Lily for a few days and just see if we can find anything out. How does that sound?" I asked.

A smile returned on Blair's face, "That sounds really good. We will begin working on Project Horrid Gypsy tomorrow," that was an awesome name! "We can tell Alexa when she gets out of the shower."

"Um, I don't think we should bother her with this quite yet. She has a lot on her plate at the moment and maybe we should just keep this between us for now," I said.

"Yea that's a good idea," she agreed.

As we both sat there in our beds waiting for Alexa, I started thinking about the last couple of days. This year had brought so many new characters into my life, like horrid gypsies and kinky werewolves. What's next? I don't know, but I can't wait to find out.

BabyBlue's Author Note: Well, I think that my esteemed collegue said it all; REVIEW PLEASE! Oh, and one more quick thing, I'm changing my penname sometime this week, so don't be alarmed if you see this story under another name. It's still us.

Thanks for reading!


	9. We'll Never Be the Same

Disclaimer: So, yeah, if I owned this stuff I'd make sure that I wrote until I died. _I_ wouldn't leave people hanging, wondering what happened in the Marauder's world like _some_ people. Ahem, sorry. Write for us again, Rowling!

Baby Blue's Note: I know, I know; I'm a horrible person who is the worst writer ever and I'm super sorry. I wish that I could say that it won't happen again, but by now you know that I can't ever promise that. But, I can tell you that I will try my hardest to do everything I can to get this story cranked out. I love all my reviewers and all the people who read! I do have a slight excuse though; my co-author is gone away for all of break and I can only communicate through email. Sigh. I miss her!

I also apologize for the sappiness in some parts. The music I was listening to while writing was kind of sentimental!

Don't forget to review; and sorry for the cliff-hanger! It will be answered in chapter 11! And some in chapter 10! Yay!

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_We'll Never be the Same _

I was calm as I stepped out of the shower. I was calm as I toweled off my curly hair and threw it into a damp ponytail. I was still calm as I put my skirt, polo, robes, tights, shoes, and makeup on. I stayed calm as I ignored Lyla and Blair's protests as I made my way (calmly) down the stairs. However, I lost my calm as I spotted Sirius Black leaning against the wall talking to some girl with black hair.

"Do you want to die, Black?" I shrieked as I took a running start from the bottom of the stairs. I caught his blank stare change as he registered who was screaming at him. "Not today," He stammered as he bowed regally to the giggling girl and ran for the portrait hole. Although I was sprinting, he managed to stay a yard in front of me. That is until a wayward second year stood and caused him to careen to a halt.

With a groan I realized that I wouldn't be able to stop in time and I tackled him over the back of the deep red couch. I screamed as we rolled backwards and he sheltered my body as we hit the ground (which I was thankful for, though I was loathe to admit it). The air was knocked out of my lungs as the muscle he possessed crushed me. Propping himself up on his elbows, Sirius looked at me and smirked, his amazing hair tickling my forehead. "Is this some sort of play for dominance, Lexie? Because if so, all you had to do was ask," I growled as his smirk grew wider.

Realizing and not caring that there were people in the common room, I hooked my leg around his waist and in a great show of strength pushed him over so I was sitting cross-legged on his stomach. I would be lying to myself if I said that he wasn't ripped, but I figure if I don't say anything then it can't be true. Anyways, it was my turn to smirk as he looked a bit surprised. "Wrong again, Black; if I wanted to play you'd be able to figure it out."

Bringing my hands across my chest, I blew my hair from my eyes and tried to raise an eyebrow and the ebony haired boy. I'm sure it looked comical and I gritted my teeth as he smirked. "What is it that you want, Alexa?" He asked in what I am pleased to say was a slightly wheezy voice. However, this made me think; hopefully I wasn't getting morbidly obese or anything. Yeesh.

"I was just wondering why exactly you are going around and playing the martyr?" He looked curiously confused for a moment and I sighed exasperatedly, "You've been telling people we're 'working it out.' What more is there to work out besides the fact that I hate you and you're an arrogant demon?" I flinched slightly as his hands went to my hips, lifting me off his airway somewhat. It was then that I realized what a compromising position we were in, especially in front of all the people in the Common Room.

Leaping off of him, I gave him a moment to pull himself off the ground before I grabbed his wrist and pulled him through the portrait hole. Surprisingly enough he didn't make one connotation of my 'intentions' as I led him to an alcove. There was a bench under a picture of two men fighting, so I figured while gory it was appropriate. "Explain," I commanded with a stern voice and for once, Sirius looked tired.

"I don't know, Alexa, why can't we just be friends? Why can't we at least go back to being civil towards each other?" I opened my mouth to speak, but he cut me off. "Stop. Don't say anything until I'm finished speaking to you. I want you to listen to why I think we should be civil or friends or whatever else is a synonym for it.

I know that we've not always been friends, and that we liked to prank each other and tease each other, but for me it's always just been something that was fun and," He ran a hand through his hair, looking out the window towards the cold, dreary morning. "Well, I won't say that what I've always wanted is just friendship. I know that I hurt you, but it was never how I meant for things to happen. And I think that if we work out our differences we can really get to know each other."

I sat, dumbfounded for a moment as he looked at me expectantly. And then the floodgates were opened. "That's the exact reason we _can't_ be friends, Sirius. You trashed my friendship with Bree, and you came so close to breaking my heart. I gave in and let you do it all, so it's not all about you."

I was about to speak again when Sirius spoke out, "I never said it was about me! Stop turning it around so that I _always_ look like the bad guy. What about you, huh; I believe that it was you who led me on." He looked proud of himself and the anger that had been simmering below my surface burst forth. Standing up, I towered over him, my eyes narrowing to what I'm sure were very attractive little slits.

"This is why friendship or any type of civility between us will never work. It's because you're too much of a tool to think of anyone other than yourself," I took a step back as Sirius rose to his feet in anger, but I couldn't stop the anger that was fueling _my _words. "You don't care what happens to anyone else, as long as everything is okay in your world. You can't help but be a mindless idiot who uses woman to fulfill whatever _sick needs_ you think you have." I took a deep breath to calm myself, but it didn't work.

"And last, I never make things completely about you. I said that I had to work out the issues that I have with this fascination for you before we could attempt friendship. I never said that it's your fault. However, now I see what kind of person you are, and I can't see a friendship happening between us until you clean up your act and get over yourself."

Laughing hollowly, Sirius leaned lazily against the alcove, his grey eyes narrowing like mine had before. "Well, I'm so sorry your highness. If I were not but a lowly person than I'm sure we could work it out. But, now I know that you're just an arrogant, slutty bitch and I don't want to be your friend." He smirked as my jaw dropped, probably unhinging.

"You have no right to call me that, you stupid arrogant man-whore!" Stomping away like a child, I screamed in frustration and heard him laughing mirthfully behind me. "Way to act your age, Alexa. You're so naïve." Spinning on my heel, I walked back to where he was, my anger turning into pure hate for a moment.

"I may not be officially 16 yet, but I'm older than you could imagine, Black," He laughed again and I clenched my fists. I was so tired of that stupid laugh! "And if you don't stop treating me like dirt then I'm going to whip your ass."

"You reap what you sow, Parker. Stop treating me like dirt and I'll stop treating you like shit."

"Whatever, don't try to make me act civil to you; and stop with the proverbs. I'll continue to treat you like mud, and dirt, and whatever else that _sucks_ because that's what you are." As I finished, I took a few steps back because he was starting to shake. I know it was totally cliché, but I'm not sure if he would turn into a giant monster or not. Was he really above hitting girls? Not giving that scenario a chance, I turned away once again and stalked off.

Mumbling to myself under my breath, I walked quietly past the Portrait Hole not noticing the three people who were standing outside it. "Hey, Alex, wait for us," Slowing down, I turned towards Blair's voice and saw James and Lyla following her. "What's all this about, huh? You ran out of the Common Room with Sirius and since you don't seem like you've worked it out I'm going to assume that everything is not okay."

I rolled my eyes as Lyla came up and put a comforting arm around me. "Well spotted, Blair. Why don't you tell us what happened so we can fix all of this." Lyla said as she led me towards the moving staircases so we could go down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"You can't fix it; I can't fix it. The whole thing is just a load of crap that the fates have dealt me." With a sigh, I raised my fist to the sky, or ceiling in this case, "Damn you, higher power!" James laughed as Lyla pulled my hand down and sent a couple of third years apologetic looks. "Sorry, it's just that Black has got to be the most infuriating person in the entire _universe_. He can't even pull his head from his ass long enough to apologize correctly. The thing is if he had actually been sincere I could have forgiven him."

I kept walking, not noticing that they had fallen behind until there were no longer three sets of footsteps behind me. I looked behind me to see my friends bewildered and James smirking slightly. "What?" I asked while stopping and putting my hands on my hips. The try-to-be-authority look must have pulled them from their reveries because they burst into laughter. James noticed my put-out look and slung an arm around my shoulders. "It's just that we didn't know you could be so deep."

I let out a humph sound and crossed my arms while Blair came and wrapped a friendly arm around my waist and Lyla hugged me. "So, now my friends think I'm just a superficial ditz. Life is going _fantastically_ for me today." The sarcasm sent us all into peals of laughter and I smiled, feeling better for once today. "Come on, I'm hungry and if we don't hurry we'll miss breakfast."

Blair nodded energetically whilst taking James' hand and leading him forward. He followed her with a happy smile on his face, squeezing her small hand with his much larger one. "I can't go to defense without food or I'll die." She said; I smiled as we followed their lead and Lyla and I linked arms.

"Come along, little sister dear, we'll set Sirius straight," I looked down at her and pulled a face, which she matched, "Well, at least we'll be able to get the Marauders to talk to him." I allowed her to pull me in to the Great Hall, where many people were sitting and clowning around. Blair left James to go sit with Remus, who had his nose in a book, and we allowed her to pull us to a separate end of the table. "What's with the secrecy, Blair bear?"

Blair blushed at the nickname James had bestowed upon her and we had seen fit to hold against her. She shrugged once before answering, "I figured that we could use a break from the guys for once. Have some girl time like we haven't had in quite a while." I poured us each a glass of orange juice before raising my goblet to theirs.

"To the best of friends in the world!"

"Here, here!"

Drinking together, I couldn't help but laugh, sending the juice from my mouth and all over the front of Lyla's shirt. "Hot damn, I'm sorry!" I giggled as Lyla looked at me in disgust before her mouth broke out into a smile.

"You should just be glad that I am a witch, and therefore know how to clean myself off." Folding my hands together and bowing towards her, I began to load my plate up with eggs and toast. Making a little sandwich, I bit into my food, sighing with contentment. We didn't really talk much as we continued to eat, but every once in awhile I would look up to find us all smiling at each other. There weren't really words that we could use to describe our friendship, and I was just glad to have the friends that I did.

Just as I was beginning to forget about Black and the whole disturbing part of the morning, Bree sat down next to me. "Guess who was chosen to be partners in Defense?" She asked excitedly. I pulled my eyebrows together to keep myself from donning an angry expression. I really didn't want to have to deal with our tentative friendship this early in the morning.

Blair, I could tell, was feeling the same way as she was clutching her fork, hash browns halfway to her mouth as she watched Bree warily. Thankfully, Lyla was being kind enough to answer Bree with a small smile. "Well, one can only hope that it was a good match." She said, before turning back to her strawberries and kicking Blair and I under the table.

"Oh, it is. Don't you worry about that." Turning towards me, Bree sent me a dazzling smile. I think I'm going to be sick. "Well, without all the suspense, you and I are going to be partners! Isn't that great, Alex?" I tried to hide the wince that I was sure to express by taking another bite from my egg/toast concoction.

Swallowing tightly, I felt the food hit my stomach in what felt like a lead ball. "That's just awesome, B." I said, hoping that it wasn't too obvious that I was lying. It must not have been because Bree gave me a large smile and hugged me so tightly that I wasn't sure what to do. Patting her back uncertainly, I looked over her shoulder towards James, whom I could see was berating Black at the other end of the table. Biting the inside of my cheek, I sent a closed lip smile to Bree who had finally stopped strangling me. "Are you eating with us, Bree?" I asked while I tasted blood. Hm, must have bit down a bit to hard.

"Nah, I can't right now. I haven't even finished getting ready yet." She gestured to her immaculately clean uniform and I frowned. "Uh, okay. I guess I'll see you later then." I stated while she got up from the bench and sent air kisses over to Lyla and Blair. "Ta."

We waited until she was out of sight to burst into giggle. "Ta," Lyla mocked as she flicked her straight, brown hair over her shoulder so that it brushed the middle of her back. "She obviously hasn't changed a bit since we stopped talking to her. You would think that she'd realize we weren't just mad about her and Sirius."

I rolled my eyes, before looking back down the table at where the Marauders sat. James was glaring across the table at Black, who was looking back at James with a set expression. Remus, as usual, was trying to get them both to calm down. "Speaking of the devil, Jam-Jam is telling him off." With what looked like a coordinated movement, Lyla and Blair's heads spun to look at them.

We stared for a bit longer before someone spoke next to me, "What's so interesting?" I shrieked, recognizing the deep voice and blushing. "Hey, Caradoc." Blushing even deeper as he leaned over and kissed my cheek, I couldn't keep the grin from my face. "Done eating yet? I can walk you to your first class?" He said this so enticingly and like he really was hoping I'd say yes that I pushed away my half-eaten breakfast and nodded my head. Hopefully, Blair had enough sense to grab me a muffin.

I was so floored by how cute he sounded and the fact that he, an _older_ guy, wanted to walk me to class that I didn't even have time to register the fact that a strong body had just sat itself down next to Lyla, whom was sitting across from me. "Alright there, Dearborn?" Clenching my jaw together, I tried not to sigh in annoyance as Caradoc looked up pleasantly and smiled at the incomer.

"Looking better I see, Black. Alexa sure does pack a punch," He slung an arm around my waist and pulled me closer. Smiling to myself, I fixed Black with a look that clearly showed that my little 'infatuation' was over. I had Caradoc now, who had just physically staked his claim. There was a strange giddiness in my stomach as I thought about this. I was someone's girl now. Yeah, I liked the sound of that.

"Sure does, but I'm just glad that we have finally been able to be on level terms now." I looked up sharply, as did Lyla and Blair, "Isn't that right, _Lexie_." I almost lifted myself from my seat, my anger was so great. But two could play at this little game. Looking up at Caradoc, I smiled sweetly; my eyes growing wide and round as I pulled of an innocent look.

"Of course we have, _Sirius_." I finished the slight with an arm wrapped around Caradoc, before picking up my bag and standing from the bench. "Well, I'm going to class. See ya there, Lyla, Blair," With a glare only he could see, I turned to the smirking boy that was next to my seething sister. "Sirius."

Caradoc stood, and taking my hand, walked me out of the Great Hall. I distinctly heard a oof and then, "What was _that_ for, Lyla?" I smiled contentedly as I knew what a hard elbow Lyla could throw when she wanted to hurt someone. As I felt a slight pressure on my hand, I looked up to find my boyfriend smiling down at me, but with an expression that was somewhat forced.

"Are you sure nothing's going on with you and Black?" I looked down at the stone floor as we made our way up the halls.

"Course."

--

As we sat in defense, my second class of the day and the only one I shared with Bree, I stared blankly at the she-devil who was babbling about something that had _absolutely nothing_ to do with what we were supposed to be studying. "And, then, I was like, 'Somebody better walk away from this fight,' and Lance pulled Jennifer back. I swear," Tossing her hair back, Bree fixed her heated stare on a Slytherin boy from across the room, "If he didn't want his girlfriend to find out then he shouldn't have cheated."

With what I am positive was disbelief, I stared at my old friend. "So what you're saying is that you had a tryst with a Slytherin sixth year, whom had a girlfriend, and then when said girlfriend found out she tried to come after you; and you don't even care?" Bree nodded her head happily and then snapped her head down to her work as our professor walked by us. I lowered my voice, "Bree, that is terrible."

Now, I for one wasn't one of these terrible prejudiced Gryffindor (cough Potter cough) but I for one wasn't happy going around and messing with the opposite sex from the House of Snakes. Well, I said I wasn't too terribly prejudiced. Bree stared at me with an affronted look before adorning her face with an expression I knew all too well. Thank goodness she couldn't guilt trip me anymore.

"But, Alex, he sought me out; it was all his idea really." Rolling my eyes, I turned back to my book and began jotting down notes on our forbidden creature. Feeling someone's eyes on me, I looked up to find James with one raised eyebrow. It was only then that I realized Bree was still speaking. "…and then I just couldn't help it because he was already half-way up my skirt," My face paled and I almost puked in my mouth.

Holding up a hand, I shut my book and resigned that I would have to do this later in the Common Room. "Listen, Bree, I'm not really in to hearing about your trysts while we're supposed to be doing work, so if you would kindly refrain that would be ever so lovely." Right, so I was being a stroppy prat, but really, did she need to tell me about how far she went with a _Slytherin_? No; I didn't think so.

Opening my book, I barely missed the look that Bree was sending my way. It was a mix of shock (that I'd spoken up), anger (that I'd cut her off), and hurt (that I was a bitch about it). "Why can't we get along, A? Suddenly it's like you hate me or something."

"Or something," I said whilst opening my closed book back up and thumbing through the pages to get to the section on vampires. Sigh. Ironic that I'm reading about backstabbing, bloodsucking creatures while sitting next to one. Without the bloodsucking part, that is. When she realized that I was just going to ignore her, Bree slammed my book shut without warning and I yelped while holding my wounded fingers closer to me. "Bloody hell, Bree! What in the hells was that for?"

"You're not listening to me! You've done a complete three-sixty from how we were at the beginning of the year. I told you that I was sorry, but you said that you were willing to put it all behind me. So are we friends or not?" Swinging her long, chocolate hair behind her shoulder, she looked at me expectantly. With a quick glance around the room I realized that no one was really paying attention to us and that Professor Cringle (no, he doesn't look like Father Christmas) was grading our essays at the front of the class.

"We are friends, but that doesn't mean that I've forgotten about what happened." Sighing, I pushed my hair back and rummaged through my bag for a headband. When it was secured in my hair, I noted to thank Lyla for bringing my bag with her to breakfast this morning. Speaking of breakfast, it was almost time for lunch and I was about ready to starve to death. Note to self: no matter how cute the boy, _finish breakfast first._ My mental tirade was cut short by a short, feminine cough.

Right; I was explaining the situation to Bree. Her hazel eyes were fixed on me and I flinched back a little in my seat. Sigh. I was always so afraid that she would hit me. "Anyways, what I'm trying to say is that even if I have forgiven you we won't ever be the way that we were before. You stabbed me in the back, Bree, and then you weren't even sorry." Once again, I opened my book thinking that we would be able to salvage the last fifteen minutes of class and work on our project for a bit. Again, I was wrong.

"What do you mean 'we'll never be the way we were?' You make it sound like we're breaking up or sommat. Is this what you told Sirius too? Is that why he came to me and ditched you, A?" Bree looked proud of herself as I began to pack up the my things. Clenching my fists together under the table, I pegged her with the iciest stare I could manage without actually doing cold-inducing magic. How I wish I could have just turned her in to a ice cube.

"I'm not going to talk about _that _with _you_; not now and not ever." The knowing smirk never left her face as I searched the room desperately for a way out. I couldn't deal with all this crap today and if I didn't make it away from her fast, Bree was going to be faced with an explosion of anger she never knew was possible. Yet, as I looked around and realized there was still ten minutes left of class, I resigned myself to my anger. "And I know we're not 'breaking up,' Bree. Sirius only came to you because you were there and willing to be a total whore for him while we were too busy trying to figure out what was going on. So, as I see it, I'm glad that I stand where I am today because never have I wanted to be called a slut."

The evil glint didn't leave her eyes even after I had finished my mini-speech. "I thought we weren't going to discuss the matter, Alexa? Or is that just what you say when you get passed over for the 'better' model?" With a scoff I gathered my bag on my shoulder and gripped the strap tightly. She really did just refer to herself as a possession. _Idiot._

"I'm not a toy or a model or something that someone can just pass off. I am a human being with feelings and emotions," Sending a disdainful look at my once friend, I stood from my seat and effectively ended the conversation. "Professor, could I be excused?" Without looking up from his essays, Cringle waved a hand as if shooing me out and I lunged for the door.

No, I wasn't running away, but I didn't fancy detention for beating someone up either. I did have a rather upstanding reputation to hold, as it was. The door to the classroom slammed shut rather satisfyingly and I walked into the next corridor over, before leaning against the wall and sliding down it. I figured that I should have made my way up to the Divination tower, but I couldn't bring myself to get up.

As I began to ponder my situation, someone sat down across from me and with a hint of surprise I noticed that it was Lupin. At my questioning look, he muttered something along the lines of 'ditched Herbology,' and went back to staring at his hands.

"Trouble in paradise, Remmy?" I asked whilst pushing my elbow into his arm. He rolled his eyes before shoving me playfully back and I got a glimpse at the boy that made my sister so happy. "We never actually have a conversation, Lupin, why is that?" I ask, genuinely puzzled at the fact that I haven't actually had any verbal communication with him this year. Not that we'd talked a lot before or anything, but it was sort of awkward.

"Well, Parker, I assume it's because between you fighting with my best mate and me trying to convince your sister she's better off without me, we don't get a lot of words in between the two of us." His bitter laugh was dry and his words low and sarcastic when he spoke, and I nodded along with him.

"This year has been a little mucked up, eh?" Sighing, he leaned his head against the stone wall and closed his eyes. He looked tired, and come to think of it, all the Marauders had seemed out of it today. Even Peter, who wasn't one for words. "I don't think you're dangerous and you seem to be pretty good for my sister too. Telling her that she's better off away from you is just hurting her, you know? For that, no matter if you're the kind Marauder or not, I'll have to kill you." I say, feeling the protectiveness in me spring to life.

I got no response as he sighed once again and continued to watch the ceiling tiles and it struck me that perhaps Remus Lupin was just not one who spoke often. He had always seemed resigned and quiet, but I thought that was because he didn't have much to say. Sure, he wasn't loud and crass like Black, nor was he arrogant and mischievous like James, but then again he didn't have to be. When he spoke, he got to the point and his voice made you listen. I respected that.

"I really--well, she's definitely--" He sighed in a tortured way and ran a hand through his sandy golden hair. "Lyla is one of the most special people I know, and she's too good for me; or anyone for that matter." I sent him a small smile as he looked at me with eyes that begged me to understand, "With me she'd just be getting a mediocre boy who has problems the world wouldn't be able to understand."

Whoa. That was deep and heart-wrenching, and if I was a total home wrecker and hated my sister I would totally be going for this pained, mysterious boy. But, as I was not those things, I could only pat his hand comfortingly and try to help him. "She knows who you are, Remus, and she's not letting whatever 'problems' you have stand in the way. Besides, she's put up with the sneaking around and all your other kinky quirks for this long, what makes you think that she won't keep it up?" I heard footsteps coming towards us, but didn't realize who it was until I had finished my bit. "If you really have feelings for her, then don't keep treating her like dirt."

Lupin nodded painfully and I squeezed his hand as someone came to a stop besides us. Looking at the slightly heeled shoes I groaned outwardly before the voice could even speak. "Well, looks like I'm not the only person who goes around on friends." The cynical, conniving voice grated on my nerves painfully and I stood to face my growing arch-nemesis.

"If you breathe a word of what you _think_ you saw, because I can tell you right now you are wrong, then I will make your life such hell that you won't even know that we used to be friends." I watched with delight as something akin to doubt flickered across her features until she composed herself into a cool smirk.

"We'll just see about that." The bell rang as we stared each other down and it was only when I felt a calming hand on my shoulder that I tore my eyes from Bree's. I looked to where Remus was standing and then thought of how it was the worst possible thing he could do at the moment; standing up for me that is. When I turned back around the hall was filled with people and I could just see Bree's bouncy hair flowing down the corridor, people gathering around her as she spread a rumor that could get me killed.

"This is going to suck." Remus spoke as people began to look back at where the two of us were standing. I nodded solemnly as I prepared myself for an onslaught during what was turning out to be one of the worst days of my life.

James met me outside of the Divination classroom, and I had assumed that Lyla had already gone in, so as I made to go up the ladder I wasn't really surprised that James pulled me aside before I could go up. "What the heck is up with your sister, Alex? I asked her where you were and she practically bit my head off before I could get a word in edgewise." As I muttered Bree's name, James looked at me quizzically and I rolled my eyes.

I waited until a portion of students went up the ladder, staring at James and I as they went, and I groaned. They'd be talking about us next. "Bree saw Remus and I talking. It was about Lyls, and I was trying to comfort him. He was talking about being dangerous and some rot," James' face darkened but I stowed that knowledge away for later. "Anyways, Bree saw us, made up some shite about the two of us and I guess Lyla heard before I got to tell her it was all a crock of bull."

"But why would she make that crap up anyways? I thought you two were friends," James stopped and nodded his head, "So you two must have been fighting in Defense. It was about Padfoot, wasn't it?"

"If by Padfoot you mean that toe-rag Black whom you insist to hang out with, then yes. But it wasn't completely about him. Because I can't and don't care what he does with his love life anymore." James looked at me skeptically for a moment and I rolled my eyes before making my way up the ladder again. "I _don't_ Jam-Jam, and you'll do well to remember that."

"Don't _call_ me that, Allie-pie." I laughed as I made my way into the classroom and went to take my usual seat next Lyla, but her bag as taking my spot and she was sitting with Alice, a girl who shared the Gryffindor dorms with Lyla, Blair, Bree and I. Along with Lily, we were the only girls in sixth year. I digress, the whole situation here was about Lyla taking the place where James and I usually sat. "What the hell, Parker?" James asked Lyla while glaring at her and Alice. Alice threw her hands up in defense.

"I don't want to talk about it here, James. And it's not you that needs to be explaining themselves." She looked at me pointedly and I tried not to sigh in annoyance.

"You really aren't going to let me explain before you jump all over me? Come on, Lyls, let's think about this rumor before we freak out." She scowled at me and I knew I was on the defensive and that I wouldn't be able to get through to her until she had calmed down. Fortunately, or unfortunately really, the professor came in the door in that moment and James and I had to retreat to a desk in the corner of the classroom next to the window.

"She'll believe you, Allie-pie. She's crazy to believe Bree over her own sister." I sent him a tight smile, trying to let him know that I believed him, but it was hesitant. There was also a tight feeling in my lungs, forcing me to breathe deeply. I could almost feel the virtual light bulb above my head as I had an idea. Rummaging in my bag for my special parchment and quill, the professor looked at me with surprise that I might actually pay attention today.

Ah, well, what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her. Or me either, for that matter. I watched as the last conversation that was used (between Blair and Lyla) sifted away as I put the quill's tip to the parchment. The green lit up as my message was sent and I saw Lyla glance out of the corner of her eyes to see her bag move a bit. I mentally remembered to thank James for telling me the spell to alert people. I also meant to ask him how he knew the spell.

_Make it quick, Alexa, I'm trying to pay attention for once._

_**Just give me a second to explain before you take it into consideration. I would NEVER do anything like that to you. I mean, why would I ever go for Remus?  
**_

I winced slightly as I thought of my word choice, trying not to smile at Lyla's obvious sarcasm I her reply.

_Of course, because he is just a horrid looking guy, isn't he? What would I even see in him?  
_

_**Oh you know what I meant you bloody dramatic. I'm just trying to tell you that when Bree found Remus and I we were out in the hallway and I was giving him a FRIENDLY hug because he was so stressed out about you. **_

_What's that even supposed to mean; and why the hell was Bree following you about in a hallway? I mean, I know that you and Remus are friends, and I respect that, but it's not really explaining all the things this rumor is saying._

_**Paper sigh. Bree is a freakish stalker so I don't know how she found me. But we were arguing about why our friendship wasn't going to go back to normal in Defense and I got p'd at something she said and walked out. When I was in the hallway I saw Remmy and he was very forlorn. He was talking some sort of nonsense about you and him being dangerous and it was really sad. So, instead of being a heartless person, I tried to help him out and tell him that you were probably the best thing for him….**_

My scribbling was cut short when the Professor cut her beady eyes to me. "Well Ms. Parker, I assume you could help Mr. Potter out with his answer?"

Scrambling, I said the thing that was a guaranteed answer in this pointless class. "I would say that it means the subject of the, hum," I looked to Alice from across the room who was mouthing _dream_ and nodded, "The dream and say that they were probably going to have some sort of torturous hardship in their life." The professor looked surprised, but nodded her head nonetheless and continued on to her next victim. Looking down at my parchment again, I saw the brief message from Lyla.

_Nice save, sis. And I think that I can understand what happened from there. Sorry I ever doubted you, I just like him so much._

_**I'm smiling if you didn't notice. Anyways, I know and he really likes you as well. But what's all this crap about him thinking he was dangerous to you?**_

_And I'm replying with a smile. Don't worry about that; he's just being stupid. Lunch in the kitchens today? So we don't have to deal with the Marauder's or Bree?_

_**Of course! We'll meet up with Blair-bear and then I'll tell you all about Caradoc walking me to class!**_

I put the parchment away, resigning myself to focusing on the lesson, but almost five minutes later my bag vibrated against my foot. James popped his head up and I grabbed my bag quickly. He gave me a confused look but let it drop as he put his head back in his palm to watch the crystal ball on the table. Looking at the paper, I noticed the familiar light blue script.

_Bree is going down! I don't know how, but lunch in the kitchens so I don't have to look at her insipid face._

I laughed to myself as I looked to Lyla whom was scribbling back a reply.

_Right-o!_

_**My thought's exactly.**_

--

The funny thing about an ultimatum is that you don't know when it's going to hit you. It was Tuesday afternoon and I was nursing my wounds from another spat with Black, even after I agreed publicly to be his friend in the Great Hall the day before, and I felt someone tugging on my hair. I sighed, thinking that if it was Black again I would have to physically rip his hand from his body.

When I looked up, however, it was to see Caradoc smiling down at me, albeit a bit tensely. "Can we take a walk?" He asked and I smiled and leapt from the couch. I practically ran from the Common Room, yet I didn't miss the look that I got from Black. With a roll of my eyes, I followed Caradoc to the same alcove that I had led Sirius to the day before. I took his hand in my own, but was surprised when he gently laid mine back in my own lap and extracted his hand.

"I know I asked you this yesterday, Alex, but it's really important to me. I need to know if you are completely over Black." I stared up into his deep blue eyes, my heart dropping as I tried to think of the answer. And I realized that it was an answer that I didn't have to think about anymore.

"How'd you know that I even had a thing for him?"

Realizing too late that it was the wrong choice of words, I flinched as Caradoc stiffened visibly. "Everyone has a thing for him." He spoke bitingly and I wanted so badly to just reach out and grab him in my arms, but I knew he wouldn't let me. "All of my past girlfriends have had a thing for him, and I want what happens between us to be real. At least for a little while, as long as we can keep it real."

My heart started to thud as I knew what was coming next. His perfect mouth formed the words before I could actually hear them and everything moved in a slow motion. "I need you to choose, Allie: Black or me."

_Shit._

--

AmuletGirl5 Author Note: Well lovelies, wasn't that just delectable? Talk about a cliff hanger! I will write as fast as I can so you won't be dangling I the unknown for too long. Well, off to write! Tata. Peace and Love. Ciao.


	10. Lovely Awkward Situations

Disclaimer: Does Rowling look like two seventeen year old girls with blonde and brown hair? Nope, didn't think so.

Amulet Girl Author's Note: Hello everyone!!!! So sorry for such the long wait. I have been really busy lately and I just haven't had anytime. But don't fret, Christmas break is drawing near. Here is the long awaited chapter, hope you fully enjoy it!

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_Chapter 10:_

_Everybody Loves an Awkward Situation_

"That stupid bitch. That stupid bitch! She clearly has no idea who she is messing with," Alexa angrily told Blair and I as we watched her pace back and forth around our dorm. She had been ranting for hours about Bree and her bitchy ways. It was six o'clock now and we had been hearing this for quite a while.

"Alex, she clearly is…" I started to say.

"A bitch! I know!" Alexa cut me off.

Blair and I looked at each other in amusement. We loved it when Alexa went off on one of her tirades. What can I say, we're sick people. "I was going to say she is just jealous of you, but your explanation is much more thorough," I said slightly laughing at my sister. As Blair and I tried to suppress our laughter Alexa turned to face us with a glare on her face. We both stopped laughing.

"You guys! This is very serious, we must destroy her," Alexa said clenching her fist.

"Alex, couldn't we just ignore Bree and forget about it?" Blair, so innocently asked.

With a shocked look on her face Alexa said, "Blair, we can't simply let her go without punishing her for her evil deeds. She needs to learn from her mistakes."

Blair nodded her head, "Okay, so what do you have in mind?"

"We must destroy her socially, emotionally and every other way possible," Alex said maniacally.

I looked at Blair with a certain kind of terror. My sister had turned into a monster, not that I minded all that much, but we had to stop her before she did something we would all regret the actions that would take place. "Look Alex, I think Blair has a point, if we get back at her, she could potentially get us back even worse," I tried to reason.

"You traitors!" she shouted dramatically. "After all we've been through, you're just going to abandon me in my time of need?" Alex asked us. "Lyla, you of all people should want to get back at Bree. She dragged Remus into it, which also drags you in," she pointed out.

She was right, that rumor had involved Remus, and I'm not going to let Bree ruin what I have with him, especially when we just got it together. I let out a sigh and said, "Alright, I'm in, but we are going to do this properly. We have to destroy her to where she won't even think about getting us back, I'm not in the mood for "girl warfare", it's so tiring." Blair and Alexa both laughed. As we sat there for a moment laughing, I had a brilliant idea! "We all know that we aren't very good at being sneaky and all that, so I propose we seek expert help."

"What do you suggest?" Alexa asked curiously.

"If only we knew some people who know the ins and outs of pranking, have had some experience in taking people down, and are willing to do anything we ask of them," I said.

I could tell Blair had already figured out my plan, when she said, "Oh wait, we do know people like that! What are the odds?"

Alexa's face hardened, "No, absolutely not. I refuse to sink that low."

"Oh come on Alexa, it's not that big of a deal, you can just completely ignore him," I explained.

"It doesn't work like that. We can ask James, Remus, and Peter; I will not ask Black for help."

"We all know that Sirius is the best at scheming up plans and I think that he will help us and we will make sure you guys have as little contact with each other as possible," I pleaded with my sister looking at her with my big sad eyes, "It's the only way, we either ask them or we don't do anything, because I don't want to do this half-ass and get caught."

Alexa sat there for a moment with conflict all over her face. Blair and I anxiously waited to see what she would say. "Fine, but if he even blinks the wrong way so help him," Alexa gave in. I knew she would give in eventually. "Let's go find the prat and get this humiliation over with."

"Oh come on Alex, it's not going to be that bad," Blair pointed out as she hopped off of my bed and walked over to the door to our dorm.

"Wrong again Blair, wrong again. This is going to be torture for me. I don't want Black to know that I'm going to acknowledge his presence, let alone seek his help," Alex dramatically stated. She was such a drama queen and when she turned I rolled my eyes at her. Blair and I could have just offered to ask James or Remus, but we both knew that she needed to suck up her pride and talk to Sirius. Plus, he was a _really_ good person to go to for hair-brained schemes. Need I remind myself of the scheme to get Lily off our backs?

As we walked down the stairs to the common room Alexa kept going on and on about how she loathed Sirius and so on and so forth. When we entered the common room, we saw all four Marauders sitting on one side of the room, slumped on the various couches and chairs just shooting the breeze. We stopped at the foot of the stairs and Blair and I watched as Alexa stood there just watching the four boys. She slowly turned around to face us and said, "I changed my mind, I'm don't feel like destroying Bree any more." She started to go past us back up the stairs, but we grabbed her by the arm and held her in place.

I was getting a little tired of Alexa being a passive coward, "Alex, look at me," I told her grabbing her face and holding it to where she was looking me straight in the eyes. I tried to think of something insightful and encouraging, but all I could think of was, "Grow a pair. I want you to march over there, demand their help, and don't think twice about it," I told her forcefully. Blair and Alexa both looked at me in astonishment. I put my hands on Alexa's shoulders and turned her back towards the Marauders and gave her a little push as I said, "Now go." When she started walking on her own, Blair gave me a little smile, and we quickly followed her.

As we slowly made our way over to where the boys were sitting, I saw a hint of confidence return to Alexa's stance. She stopped right in front of them, cutting off whatever conversation they were having. All four boys looked perplexedly up at Alexa, whose face was hard and determined. Blair and I anxiously stood behind her, waiting for her to say something. "You lot are going to help us destroy Bree. I want all four of you to meet Blair, Lyla and myself up in your dormitory in five minutes." After Alexa said this, Sirius went to open his mouth, but Alexa cut him off, "No questions," she said sternly, "Five minutes, don't be late." The boys stared at her wide eyes with there mouth's wide open, I don't think anyone had bossed them around like that lately, maybe even ever. After they sat there, not moving for another moment, Alexa said, "You now have three minutes to get up those stairs," still no movement. For their sakes, I hoped they got up off their asses, and quick. "Go!" She shrieked, and each one of them shot up off the couches and took off running towards the stairs. Once they disappeared out of sight, Alexa let out a nervous sigh.

"Well played sis, well played," I told her, as Blair and I gave her a congratulatory hug. She felt tense for a moment and then sagged into us. "Blair, what do you have to say about our brave little girl here?" I asked patting Alexa on the back.

"Did I ever tell you you're my hero?" Blair serenaded. "You're everything I wish that I could be," We made our way to the stairs leading to the boy's dorms as we laughed at Blair's superb vocal talent.

When we entered into the dorm, it was surprisingly clean, and the Marauders were sitting properly on their respective beds waiting for us to arrive. I'm not going to lie, they looked scared shitless when Alexa walked into the room. It's amazing what a little confidence will do. "Sorry, I was a little harsh on you guys back there," Alexa said, "you guys can relax."

All four boys let out huge sighs of relief. "Damn, Parker, you…" Sirius started, but was cut off by Alexa.

"Uh huh," she said wagging her finger at Sirius, "You don't get the privilege of talking to me. If you have anything to say, you run it through my associates," she said signaling to Blair and me. Sirius retracted and silenced himself. I looked over at Remus who looked like he wanted to say something but wasn't sure if he should or if he was even allowed to. Remus slowly raised his hand. "Remus?" Alexa said acknowledging Remus's raised hand.

"Um, yeah, so why exactly are we up here again?" he asked ever so carefully. At that moment we all remembered why we were there. Before Alexa went into detail about our plan, we decided, since we were most likely going to be here or a while, to make ourselves comfortable. Blair went and sat with James on his bed, I sat with Remus on his, and Alexa took a seat on Remus's trunk at the foot of his bed.

"We have called you gentlemen here today for one reason, and one reason only. We want you to help us completely destroy Bree," Alexa bluntly stated.

The four boys looked at each other and then James spoke, "Alex, don't you think that's a bit harsh?"

I already knew what Alexa was going to say before she even said it; she was not going to back down from this. "This is not a negotiation James, either you lot are in or you're out."

"Well I don't know about you boys, but I'm in," Sirius said. "I'm in the mood for a good pranking and I just have all sorts of good ideas swimming around in my head. How about it," he asked looking for a response from his fellow Marauders.

James, Remus, and Peter all looked at each other trying to decide what to do. Peter was shockingly the first to speak, "I'm in."

"Okay, I'll do it. I can't believe I thought twice about it," James said laughing at himself and pulling Blair into a hug.

After James finished speaking, everyone in the room looked to Remus. "Guys, I just don't know about it. I mean, Bree can be a real bitch, but by doing this, aren't we sort of sinking to her level?" Remus asked.

Alexa raised her eyebrows at me signaling me to use my oh so seductive ways to get Remus to do what I wanted. I took Remus's hands in mine and turned him so he was only looking at me. "Remus, will you please help us? Do it for me," I said pouting my bottom lip and opening my doe eyes wide. I could tell he was slowly giving in.

"I'm in," he said smiling at me. Cheers erupted all around the room as I gave Remus a little kiss on the cheek. He is so cute when he does what I tell him to do.

Alexa took back control of the conversation, "Alright, now let's get down to business. Just start brainstorming ideas and then we will share them in a little while." The Marauders all congregated on the floor between Remus and James's beds and Blair came and joined Alexa and me on Remus's bed.

"So should we start thinking of some ideas?" Blair asked Alexa.

"Please Blair, that's the whole reason we asked the Marauders to help, so we wouldn't have to do hardly anything. All we have to do is sit back, relax, and wait for them to come up with some brilliant idea," Alexa stated.

I got pillows for all three of us. As we made ourselves comfortable on the bed I said, "So Alex, how are things with Caradoc," as soon as I said this, Alexa's face saddened. "What's wrong," I asked.

Alexa let out a sigh and said, "Well, I've been meaning to tell you both, but with this whole thing with Bree, I really haven't had time. So when we first started dating he asked me if there was anything going on between Sirius and me, and I told him absolutely not, we were just "friends", if you could even call us that. So earlier today, he said that even though I said there was nothing, he could tell there was, and he basically gave me an ultimatum."

I looked over at the boys, and they seemed to be doing some serious thinking, but it also looked like Sirius was listening in. "What does this ultimatum mean?" I asked quietly, so if Sirius or any of the others were trying to listen, they wouldn't hear.

"I have to pick Caradoc or Sirius. If I pick Caradoc I can't be friends with Sirius; and if I choose Sirius it's over between me and Caradoc," Alexa responded. Mine and Blair's eyes widened. As soon as Alexa finished speaking, Sirius got up off the floor quickly and violently threw the door to the dormitory open. Oh crap. "What's his deal?" Alexa asked.

"I think he heard us!" I exclaimed.

"Oh shit!" Blair and Alexa shouted simultaneously, as we all scrambled off the bed and bolted down the stairs after Sirius.

When we got down to the Common Room, there was a huge group of people crowded in a circle around something. Oh crap, I said once again to myself. We pushed through the hoards of people and got to the inside of the circle. Standing in the center were Sirius and Caradoc staring each other down and exchanging words. "What's going on?" Remus asked from behind me, sounding concerned.

"Sirius heard something that we were talking about up in the dorms, he got mad, and now he is going to fight Caradoc," I filled him in. "You, James, and Peter have to stop him before somebody gets hurt." Remus nodded his head and signaled to James and Peter.

Sirius and Caradoc started pushing each other and before Remus and James could get through to them, Alexa stepped forward. "Stop it both of you!" she yelled at them.

"Just stay out of this Alexa! This is between me and Black," Caradoc yelled back.

Sirius's eyes enflamed and he said, "Don't talk to her like that you ass!" Sirius then delivered a forceful push that nearly knocked Caradoc off his feet. When Caradoc got his balance back, he looked like he was going to kill Sirius. Alexa stepped between the two boys as they moved towards each other and before I knew it, Alexa was on the floor crying, blood streaming down her face.

The two boys immediately backed off and Blair and I rushed forward to see if Alexa was okay. I bent down and took Alexa's face in my hands, her nose was definitely broken. "Alex, what happened?" I asked.

"I got punched in the freaking nose!" she yelled hysterically.

"Who punched you?" Blair asked eyeing Sirius and Caradoc.

"I don't even know. One minute I'm just standing in between them and the next, my nose is pounding and pouring out blood. I am going to kill both of them!" Alexa screamed.

"Let's get you to the Hospital Wing first, and then I give you free permission to kill them," I told her. "Remus and I will take you to the Hospital, can you stand up?" I asked her, she nodded. I got Remus to help her up and support her while I talked to Blair for a minute. "Blair, I want you and James to stay here with Caradoc and Sirius, make sure they don't leave this room. I don't want them anywhere near Alexa and I want to have a talk with them when I get back," I told her, letting my anger build as I looked at Sirius and Caradoc. Those boys were going to be extremely sorry after I get through with them.

I went back over to where Remus was standing with Alexa trying to contain the bleeding. As we walked out the portrait hole, I heard the shouts of James and Blair. Alex's nose was dripping blood all down the corridor as we quickly sprinted off to the Hospital Wing. Remus took off his robe and let Alexa use it to catch the blood. "Thanks Remus," Alexa said weakly. Alexa hated the sight of blood, it always made her queasy.

"No problem," Remus said as we approached the Hospital. As we rounded the corner into the wing, Madame Pomfrey was tending to another student. When she heard us come in she turned around and immediately set Alexa down on a spare bed and hurried off to get the supplies she needed. When she came back, she put a curtain around Alexa's bed and told us to wait behind it. I protested and told her that I needed to stay with her but she wouldn't budge.

A little while later, Madame Pomfrey pulled the curtain away and Alexa was sitting on the bed, her clothes covered in blood. Her nose was set back to normal and the bleeding had stopped. Remus and I stepped closer to the bed, when Madame Pomfrey came back with a small vile in her hand, "Now Alexa, here is some pain reliever if you need it, which I'm sure you will. Just take a little sip whenever your nose starts to hurt, you only need one sip. You will be fine, it just might hurt you for a while. You are free to go whenever you like."

Alexa hopped off the bed and said, "Thanks Madame Pomfrey."

She smiled back at Alexa and then smiled at Remus, "Good evening Remus, should I be expecting you soon?"

He nodded, "Yes, it is coming up. Goodnight Madame Pomfrey."

"What was that all about?" Alexa asked.

"Oh nothing, she just helps me take care of some fury little problems," he responded looking at me with a smile.

"What are you talking about?" Alexa inquired looking from me to Remus.

Remus quickly changed the subject, "Alex, your nose ring is missing."

Alexa moved her hand to her sore nose and gently touched where her nose ring used to be, "Shoot, I must have fallen out when I was brutally punched in the face. I will have to go to Hogsmeade sometime to get a new one."

"I will help you look for it back in the common room if you want me to," I said offering my help.

"Thanks sis," Alexa said to me putting her arm around me. "Really, though, thanks for everything." She squeezed me gently and gave me a huge smile.

"No problem, it's what I do best. No one messes with the Parker sisters," I responded returning her smile.

When we finally got back to the common room, we entered the portrait hole and saw Caradoc, James, and Blair sitting on various chairs and Sirius pacing in front of a fireplace. Both boys looked really depressed and had some blood on them, Alexa's no doubt. Caradoc was the first person to realize that we had returned.

"Alex," he said with a tone of relief, when in fact he had nothing to be relieved about. James, Blair, and Sirius all turned their attention to where we were standing. Sirius and Caradoc both started towards us at the same time, one coming from each direction. I grabbed Alexa's arm and started walking towards the stairs to the girl's dormitories; she was in no state to deal with them right now.

"Alexa, wait," both boys said.

When we got to the foot of the stairs, I stopped and said to Alexa, "You go on upstairs, Blair will go with you." I waved Blair over. Blair ran up to us ready to go with Alexa upstairs.

Before Alexa and Blair went up the stairs, Alexa turned back towards me, "Lyls, don't kill them. Leave that to me." I nodded my head with a smile on my face. She turned back and continued up the stairs with Blair.

I turned around to find Sirius and Caradoc standing right in front of me and James and Remus standing behind them. "Lyla, I just want to talk to Alexa, I just need a few minutes," Caradoc pleaded.

Ha! This boy is completely insane. Like I would let him get anywhere near Alexa, especially when he punched her not very long ago. "No, I am going to talk, and you two are going to listen. Sit down," neither of them moved, "Now!" I raised my voice. Both of them immediately went to the nearest chairs and sat down. I went over to where they were sitting, James and Remus behind me. "You will not talk unless I tell you its okay, right now, you just listen. Nod your head if you understand me," they both nodded there heads. "Good, now, I will start by saying that both of you are stupid, arrogant, egotistical, asses who deserved to be hit in the face. What were you thinking?" I asked. They opened their mouths to say something but I cut them off, "Rhetorical question," I pointed out. "You have both physically, and emotionally, broken my sister.

"Caradoc, you didn't trust her when she told you there was nothing between her and Sirius, were going to make her choose between you and one of her friends, and then punched her in the face. And Sirius, you and I know how you hurt her before, you freaked out when she got a new boyfriend, and then punched her in the face," I paused for a moment to collect my thoughts and to take a breath. "I want you both to stay far away from Alexa, and when she is ready to talk, she will come to you."

"Lyla, I love her. I can't just stay away from her," Caradoc told me.

"Caradoc, if you "love" her like you say you do, you will stay away from her," I responded.

Frustrated, he got up from his chair, "You can't make me stay away," he said sternly. Without saying another word, he headed up to his dorm, disappearing from sight.

I turned back to look at Sirius, he was still seated in his chair his head resting in his hands. When he didn't move, Remus and James went over to him and put their hands on his back. "Come on mate, you need to get some sleep," James said.

Sirius lifted his head. His eyes were tired and he looked like he was about to cry; but I knew he wouldn't because Blacks do _not _cry. Honestly, it was a little heartbreaking to see him like that, but I didn't feel too bad knowing what all he had done and I don't think he was looking for sympathy. He looked like he was disgusted with himself. "Lyla, I am so sorry. I promise to stay away, but will you please just tell Alexa that I am deeply sorry?" he asked. I nodded my head. I mean he seemed genuinely sorry, it was the least I could do. He continued past me and up the stairs to his dorm James right behind him.

After the two boys left the common room, Remus and I were the only two that remained. I let out a huge sigh as I tried to process all that had happened tonight. Remus walked over to where I was still standing. He put his arms around me and hugged me. We stood there for a while in silence, just hugging. "It will all be fine," he reassured me. "You need to get some sleep," he said, releasing me from is arms and guiding me towards the stairs leading up to my dorm. We stopped at the bottom of the stairs and I turned to face him. "Good night," he said placing a gentle kiss on the top of my forehead, "I love you." I gave him a smile, and then turned to go up to my dorm.

When I woke up the next morning, my head was still spinning after last nights events. My mind was overactive trying to comprehend everything; I could barely get any sleep. I slowly lifted my eyelids that were heavy from sleep. I looked over to where Alexa's bed was and found it already made. I pulled myself up to sit against my headboard and looked around the rest of the room to see if any of my other roommates were still in the dorm. I blinked away the blurriness in my eyes and looked from bed to bed, there was no one. When I threw back my covers, I noticed a piece of paper lying on the floor. I slid off my bed and bent down to pick up the small piece of parchment, it was from Alexa. It read:

_Lyls, _

_Bear and I went down to breakfast with James and Remus already. We decided not to wake you so you could get some extra sleep. I know you are going to get tired of hearing this, but, thank you so much! I love you and we will be in the Great Hall if you feel like eating, if not, we will see you in Transfiguration. _

_XOXO Alex_

I folded the parchment in half and placed it on the table beside my bed. I sluggishly walked over to the bathroom. I turned the knob and leaned into the door but it didn't budge, it was locked. I didn't realize anybody was still up here. I released the door knob and instead went over to my dresser and took out the clothes I was going to be wearing today. When I finally found two matching socks, I heard the bathroom door open behind me. I turned to find that it was Lily coming out of the bathroom. "Good morning Lyla," Lily said pleasantly.

I returned the smile she was giving me and I said, "Hi Lily."

"How are you this morning?" she asked me.

"I'm good, how about yourself?" I politely asked as I sat down on my bed to put on my socks.

"Oh, I'm doing just fine," she paused; she walked closer toward me and sat down across from me on Alexa's bed. What was she doing? "So, you and Remus have gotten really close ever since I caught you two," I nodded my head, wondering where this was going, "You two seem really happy together."

"Lily, do you want to ask me something?" I finally asked.

"Well, it's nothing extremely important, it's just Remus told me that he wouldn't be able to be at the next prefects meeting. I was just wondering if you knew why."

"Nope, I have no idea; it probably has something to do with the Marauders." In reality, I knew exactly why. The prefect's meeting was on the same night as the full moon and Remus couldn't very well come to the meeting as a werewolf, I think people might notice.

Lily raised an eyebrow at me, "I should have guessed. Now that I think about it, they always are disappearing on the night of a full moon, isn't that odd?" she asked with a knowing twinkle in her eye. She couldn't possibly know. How could she? The only people who Remus had told were me and the Marauders. However, Lily was very smart and I'm sure she could figure it out if she did enough digging. I just need to stay calm and assume she doesn't know anything.

"Wow, I never noticed that," I said playing it cool. "Well, Lily, I have enjoyed this conversation, but I must be going." I got up and moved for the door leading out of the dormitory, but I was stopped by what Lily said.

"Lyla, I know."

"Know what?" I asked, turning back toward Lily slowly.

"It's okay, you don't have to pretend you don't know. Remus is a werewolf," she said so calmly.

What if this was a trick. Maybe she was just trying to trick me into confirming her suspicions. "Lily, that is absurd."

"Oh come on Lyla, he disappears at every full moon and when he returns he looks like somebody ripped him to shreds. I did some research, and everything points to Remus being a werewolf, it really wasn't very hard to figure out." Darn that little bookworm. "Don't worry, I won't tell anybody. I didn't tell anybody about you and Remus, so you know that you can trust me." She was right, I knew that I could trust her; and she seemed pretty certain that Remus was a werewolf, and I really needed someone to talk to. I walked back over to my bed and sat down quietly; Lily came and sat next to me. "Lyla, are you okay?"

"I don't have anyone to talk to about this," I solemnly replied.

"Well, I'm here, you can talk to me anytime. Why can't you talk to Alexa or Blair?"

"Neither of them know. I promised Remus that I wouldn't tell anyone, and he doesn't really like talking about it, so I just kept it to myself," I admitted.

"Does it bother you?" she asked.

"No, it doesn't bother me. I mean, it is a part of who Remus is, and I like everything about him. I am just so worried about him. I don't know what I would do if he got seriously hurt. And he tells me to stay away from him when a full moon comes for my safety, but it kills me to stay away. I want to help him and be there for him, but he is afraid of hurting me. I don't know what to do," I said, feeling like tears were going to stream down my face at any moment.

Lily put her hand on my shoulder, "Lyla, I am here if you ever want to talk, but I really think you should talk to Remus and tell him how you fell, let him know that you want to be there for him. You guys are supposed to be together, I know that you will work it out." I gave Lily a week smile and felt relief fill my body. It felt so good to talk to someone about this. Even though I wish I could talk to Alexa or Blair, Lily was surprisingly consoling and I would never tell Remus's secret.

"Thank you so much, Lily. You're a good friend," I told her.

Lily pulled me into an unexpected hug and said, "You are welcome, and I'm glad we are friends." She squeezed me tight and then released me from her grasp. Before I had the chance to say anything else, the door to the dorm burst open; and standing in the doorway was a mean-looking Blair. "Hey Blair, what are you…"

"Stay away from James!" Blair randomly yelled.

"Blair, what are you doing?" I asked, trying to figure out what brought on this outburst.

"It's okay Lyla, I know what you guys were talking about. You have done your part," Blair told me. I sat there for a moment, trying to make sense of what she was saying. Suddenly I realized, she was referring to our plan to find out if Lily liked James. I needed to stop her before she said things she would regret.

"Blair, I think you are mistaken. We weren't talking about--" I started to explain.

"Lyla, the charade is over. I need to say this." I could tell I wasn't going to stop her so I just let her continue, I could do damage control later. "Listen Lily, James is my boyfriend, not yours. You didn't like him so he moved on and found somebody different. I love James and James loves me, and there is nothing you can do about it. So, just stay away from him."

Lily had a pissed off surprised expression on her face. She angrily got up off the bed and stormed toward the door. Before she left, she turned back to me and gave me a look that said she wanted an explanation and then she walked out of the dorm. Blair looked at me with a pleased look on the face. "Blair, what the hell? I wasn't talking to Lily about James," I told her.

"But you were talking to her. Why else would you be talking to her?" Blair asked in a panic.

"We were the only people up here and we were just talking, James was not mentioned once."

Blair clapped her hands over her eyes and sat down next to me. She started rubbing her temples, "Lyla, what have I done? I made a complete fool out of myself and I was extremely ugly to Lily for no reason. What if she tells James? He is going to think I am a terrible person."

I felt so bad for Blair. I know that she would never mean to hurt anyone's feelings, she was just afraid of losing James. "Bear," I said pulling her into a consoling hug, "I will go talk to Lily. I'll explain everything to her and it will all be better," Blair looked up at me. Her eyes were swelling with tiny tears but I could see a glint of hope behind them. "How does that sound?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

She hugged me even tighter, "Oh Lyls, thank you so much! You are always getting me and Alex out of trouble, and we appreciate it."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," I said nonchalantly. I looked over to my clock sitting on my bedside table and saw that it was almost time for class. "But, before I save your ass, we better go to Transfiguration. If we're late, somebody is going to have to save both of our asses." We both hopped off the bed and ran down the stairs. When we finally made it to Transfiguration, Blair and I both were a little winded and Alexa was waiting for us patiently. "Hey Alex," I said.

"Where have you guys been?" Alexa asked as we made our way to our seats.

"Let's just say we had a little mishap in the dorms. But don't worry, Lyla is taking care of it," Blair said giving me a thankful smile.

"Lyls, Blair, what on earth are you talking about," Alex questioned, as McGonagall entered the classroom.

"I'll tell you all about it later," I whispered as I got a piece of parchment out to take notes on.

As I sat there listening to McGonagall talk about transfiguring mice into buttons, my mind started to wander. I thought about just not taking notes anymore, but then I looked over at Alexa and Blair, and neither one of them were paying the least bit attention, so I figured I should take notes so they could copy them later. When I refocused on my notes, I noticed someone else's handwriting scribbling something across the top of my parchment. It was Remus's.

**Hey Lyla, during free period after Potions, do you want to take a walk down to the lake with me?**

_Yeah, that sounds really nice. I feel like I haven't seen you in ages._

**I know. I miss you so much. Meet me in the common room after potions and then we will go. I love you.**

_I love you too._

I turned my head to look at Remus sitting behind me. He gave me a big smile and then I returned back to my notes.

When class finally ended, I packed up my books in my bag and got ready to leave. "Hey Lyla, what were you writing on that piece of parchment?" Alexa asked.

"I was writing down the notes," I replied.

"Notes? What are these notes you speak of?" she asked utterly shocked.

"The notes that McGonagall gave us during class."

"I never saw any notes!" she exclaimed hysterically.

"Well, Alex, that's because you were too busy playing Hangman with Blair to pay attention," I pointed out to my dear sister.

A guilty expression spread across Alexa's face, "Oh right, well, do you think maybe I could borrow them during my free period next? I have it with Blair so we can both copy them. Please, please, please!" she pleaded with me.

"Oh fine, but this is the last time," we both knew that that was entirely false. Blair and Alexa squeezed me tight, took my notes and then bounded out of the classroom leaving me alone.

After History of Magic, I gathered my things, and slowly started to make my way toward the dungeons for Potions. As I walked in silence, I started to think about all Blair, Alexa and I had been through the last couple of weeks, and I came to the dim conclusion that the cosmic universe was seeking to destroy us little by little. And when the cosmic universe is against you, you're basically up shit creek without a paddle.

When I rounded a corner on the third floor, I suddenly hit something tall and hard. Whatever it was knocked me off balance a bit, but I quickly got my stance back and I looked up to find James. This was almost perfect, I needed to talk to James before anyone (cough, Lily, cough) had the chance to tell James about what Blair said. "Oh, hey Lyls, sorry about that; I wasn't paying attention at all," James said, he seemed frantic.

"That's quite alright, I actually needed to talk to you about something, do you have a minute?" I asked.

"Well, actually, I'm kind of in a hurry, do you mind if we talk later?" he asked hurriedly

"Yeah, later is fine."

"Great! See you in Potions!" he yelled to me as he took off at almost a sprint.

When I finally made it down to the dungeons, Blair and Alexa were already there waiting for me to arrive. They both looked up when they heard footsteps coming closer. "Hey guys," I said.

"Hey Lyls, here are your notes from Transfiguration, thanks again for letting us borrow them!" Blair said gratefully.

"No problem. Do you have any idea what we are doing in here today?" I asked as we walked into the classroom. I really didn't feel like doing a whole lot today.

"Well, Slughorn said he was really tired, so he gave us instructions on what to do and put us in groups. He said we were basically on our own today," Alexa said unenthusiastically.

"Why do you sound so disappointed? I thought you would be glad that we didn't actually have to do any work," I said, curious about what was going through my sister's mind. By this time, Blair had already scurried away over to a table with a sixth year Ravenclaw.

"Well, you haven't seen the groups Sluggy put together," she stated bleakly.

"Who are you with?" I questioned.

"On the upside, you are one of my partners…"

"And the downside?"

"You are going to have to constantly restrain me from killing our other group member," Alexa bitterly said, jaw clenched. I knew that the other person in our group had to be one of two people, Bree or Sirius. I turned around to look at our table and looking back at me were two big gray searching eyes. I slowly faced Alexa, whose eyes were shooting fire in Sirius's direction. Well, this was going to be an interesting class.

"Don't worry Alex, I will just stay between the two of you, and all you have to do is ignore him. It's going to be fine," I reassured her. "Come on, let's get over there and get this over with." I pulled my reluctant sister with me over to the table where Sirius was already sitting. As we approached the table, I could see Sirius tense up and get nervous. Alexa went to the end of the table farthest a way from Sirius, and he shifted his seat to increase the distance between them even more.

After a few moments of a really awkward silence, I decided to speak, "Sirius, why don't you go ahead and start with this," I said signaling to the ingredients already on the table, "and Alexa and I will go and get the rest of the things we need." Sirius nodded his head, and quickly got to work on the assignment.

"So, what is this I hear about taking a certain redhead down?" Alexa asked as we went to go get the rest of the ingredients. "Blair sort of mentioned it in passing during our free period."

"Well, it started off as just a way to find out if Lily liked James, but now it has been completely blown up. I was talking to Lily in the dorms before Transfiguration and Blair saw us and thought that I was talking to her about James, but I wasn't. Blair came in and totally went off on Lily and now Blair is afraid the Lily is going to tell James," I said in one breath. Alexa just looked at me in utter confusion, "It's so confusing that I barely even understand it. Anyways, now I have to try and explain everything to James before Lily talks to him."

"Oh, Lily and James are in a group together," she said pointing over to a table in the back of the room. Damn you cosmic universe!

"You don't think she would say anything do you?" I asked, hoping that her answer would be no.

"I don't think so, but you never know with Lily."

"Yeah, I will just try to catch him right after class."

Once Alexa and I returned to our table, we saw that our potion was moving right along and Sirius had done surprisingly well. The rest of the class went along relatively smoothly. It mainly consisted of Sirius not talking to Alexa, Alexa not talking to Sirius and me awkwardly stuck in between mutes who, I was pretty sure, had some unrequited love for one another. Needless to say, it was really _awkward_.

When class finally ended, I saw James quickly maneuver his way out of the classroom. I quickly collected my things and ran out to catch him. Out in the corridor, I saw that Blair was already ahead of me, getting close to James. When she finally caught up with him, I noticed that she reached for his hand and he pulled away. Oh no, this couldn't be good. "What's wrong?" Alexa asked, now standing beside me. I pointed a head to Blair and James, who had stopped walking and were now facing each other.

I could see both of their mouths moving furiously, but I could not make out a word they were saying. I was so concentrated on trying to figure out what they were saying that I almost didn't even notice that Blair was no longer standing in front of James. She was now angrily stalking away in the other direction.

Alexa looked at me and said, "Are you going to go after her?"

"Why should I go, isn't it your turn?" I asked skeptically. I know this probably seems harsh and that we don't care about Blair, but we do, I swear. It's just, Blair is always really emotional, and to be quite honest, it is really tiresome trying to console her every time she gets upset. So, Alexa and I switch off.

"I know it's technically my turn, but I am really hungry, and didn't I cover for you one other time?"

"Alex, it's your turn, come on."

"How about this, we settle this with a round of rock, paper, scissors?"

I thought about it for a moment and decided that that sounded rather fair. I nodded my head in agreement. Both of us balled one hand into fist and raised it so it was level with our chest, "Rock, Paper, Scissors... Shoot!" we both exclaimed at the same time. After the lots were cast I looked down at our hands, mine was rounded like a rock and Alex's was flattened like paper. Shoot, I lost.

A smile spread across Alexa's face as she turned to go get food. "You know Lyls, you may want to consider choosing something other than rock the first time for a change." That little cheat, she knew I was going to pick rock! I quickly recovered from my loss and headed down the corridor after Blair.

From outside the common room, I could hear the faint sound of yelling. When I entered the room, I found Blair and Lily having a heated conversation. I quickly ran over to stop the bickering. Before I got all the way over to where they were standing, Blair made a quick movement that looked like she was going to attack Lily, I got there just in time to restrain Blair. "Whoa, Blair, calm down," I said, trying to calm Blair down.

"Calm down?! How can you expect me to calm down after what she did to me?" Blair practically screamed at me.

"What did she do Blair?"

"She told James about what I said to her, and now he is mad at me and won't talk to me! Why would you do that Lily?" Blair heatedly asked.

"I just thought that James should know the kind of person he is "in love" with," she replied using air quotes.

"Why do you even care about who James dates? You always act like you hate him," Blair pointed out.

Lily immediately shrunk back like she had been hurt by what Blair had said. "I… I mean, I don't hate him."

"You only act like you hate him because you like him," Blair said plainly.

Lily looked around the common room, she looked every where but at Blair. She looked like she was about to cry. Then she suddenly turned angry, "Just think what you want Blair." Lily turned and went up the stairs to the dormitory without another word from anybody.

Blair just sat there staring at where Lily had been standing. After a few moments I put my hand on her shoulder, she jumped a little at the contact. "Blair? Why don't we get something to eat? Are you up for that?" I asked in almost a whisper. Blair nodded her head solemnly.

We walked in silence all the way to the Great Hall. To be honest, even if either one of us would have felt like talking, I wouldn't have known what to say. When we entered the Great Hall I searched for Alexa. I expected her to be sitting down at a table with Remus and James, but instead I found her standing next to a table being accosted by Caradoc. The boy just could not take a hint.

Blair and I quickly swooped in to save Alexa. Blair pulled Alex aside and I stepped in where Alexa had been standing. When Caradoc realized it was me he was now yelling at, he shut his mouth and grew very tense. "Do you remember when I told you to stay away from my sister?" I asked sweetly. He nodded his head. "Well, that was no mere suggestion. Let me see if I can make this clearer for you… stay the hell out of our lives!" I said forcefully. Caradoc staggered for a moment and then quickly stomped off.

"Lyla?" I heard Alexa say from behind me.

"Yeah, I know, you're welcome," I said giving her a little smile.

I finally sat down at the table and started looking for something to eat. Being a good friend and sister sure does make you hungry. Before I took my first bite, somebody came up from behind me and pecked me on the cheek. Remus said, "When you're finished eating meet me in the front courtyard and then we can go walk by the lake." I nodded my head; he squeezed my shoulders and the walked out of the Great Hall.

I quickly ate my lunch, told Blair and Alexa I would see them later, and then headed out to the front courtyard to meet up with Remus. Out in the courtyard, Remus was sitting on a bench with his arms draped across the back and he was staring meaningfully off into space. As I walked up to him, he came out of his train of thought and gave me a huge smile. He stood up and extended his hand. I took his hand in mine and he delicately looped his fingers around mine. "Shall we?" he asked.

"We shall," I replied with a smile as we started walking toward the lake. After a while, I remembered he had said in Transfiguration that he wanted to talk to me about something. "Didn't you want to talk to me about something?"

"Oh, right," he said dimly. He didn't speak for a few moments. "Well, as you probably already know, a full moon is coming up. I just thought maybe we should talk about what's going to happen." I nodded my head in agreement. "James, Sirius, Peter and I will go to the Shrieking Shack the night of the full moon. Then once I've changed back and recuperated, I'll be back in school and everything back to normal. You won't have to do a thing."

"But I want to do something," I told him. "I want to help you."

"Lyla, you know you can't be there," he said firmly.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because I couldn't live with myself if I hurt you," he responded, grimacing at the thought.

"Remus, I'm not made of glass. I know you would never hurt me," I protested.

"I don't have any control of what I do when I am a werewolf. Right now I love you, but when I turn, my human emotions become obsolete."

"You and I both know that James, Sirius, and Peter wouldn't let you hurt me if it came to that."

He sat there for a moment, knowing that I was right. "We'll see," he said.

"But—" I started to argue.

"I'm not saying yes or no, okay. Just let it go for now. Let me think about it and talk it over with the Marauders. Is that okay with you?" he asked me.

"For now," I responded.

When we returned back to the castle, Remus said he had to take care of some stuff and that he would see me in Astronomy. I decided to just hang out in the common room to kill time before class. Maybe I could finally get some rest.

But of course I was foolish for thinking that. Just my luck, when I entered the common room, there sat Caradoc Dearborn. I had a feeling this was going to be a whole lot of awkward. I thought about just turning around and going to the library, but it was too late, he already had spotted me, "Hey Lyla," he said. Not completely sure about what I should say, I decided to just wave awkwardly. "Do you mind if I talk to you for a minute?"

"Umm, sure," I said almost as if I was asking a question. I walked over to where he was sitting and sat in the seat farthest away from him.

"I've been thinking about my actions the last couple days, and I first would like to say that I am truly sorry. I don't have any idea what I was thinking. I was such a jerk."

I cut him off before he could continue, "Caradoc, if you are going to talk to me, let's at least be honest, you were a complete asshole." He looked at me a little shocked. "You may continue," I said.

"Umm, well, I just wanted to let you know that I have decided to just stay away from Alexa," he said, acting like I hadn't told him that, like, fifty million times already.

"Well, that's great to hear," I responded sarcastically.

"Yeah, I mean it is going to be really hard to stay away from her, but if by me being near her hurts her, then I am willing to at least attempt to stay away; even if it causes me tremendous pain."

"Wow, that is very noble of you," I said increasing my sarcasm.

We sat there in silence for a moment and then Caradoc stood up, "Well, I have to get to class, so I guess I won't be seeing you."

"I sure hope so," I told him. He smiled to himself and then turned to leave.

After he was gone, I laid down on one of the big comfortable couches and closed my eyes. It felt so good to relax. I was just going to doze off for a few minutes and then—

"Black!" I heard a voice yell. It was undoubtedly Alexa. My eyes immediately flew open and my sleep was interrupted.

And the cosmic universe strikes again.

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BabyBlue's: Oh, my goodness! I don't know about you but I would like to commend my co-author on a fabulous chapter! It's her longest one, and best, that she has written yet. I still can't get over it. Anyways, I don't know about you guys but I'm excited to see what happens next between the three girls. Especially with Sirius and Alexa and Caradoc. Thanks for that one, by the way Liz. Just want to tell everyone Happy Christmas and there will most likely be another chapter up by the 25th, so we shall meet again before the new year! Don't forget to review and such! Oh, and the real Lyla (Amulet Girl) had an awkward yet awesome encounter with the real Remus today! It was amazing and so much like the story we wanted to cry!

Peace, Love, and Happiness to all!

Baby Blue and Amulet Girl


	11. Better Off This Way

Disclaimer: I'm not an owner, nor do I intent to be one.

Baby Blue's Note of Importance: Hello, lovelies! I hope everyone is having a smashing holiday as you're two favorite authors are having. Heh, just kidding about the favorite part, or maybe not. Wink. Anyways, finals are over (hooray!), we had snow just the other day, and Christmas is just around the corner for all those who celebrate it. I'm hoping that this chapter makes up from us missing a chapter in November but if not, virtual cookies and presents of your choice to all those who read and review! This chapter will answer the questions that the cliff-hanger has given and it will be full of good, fun tension. Our favorite kind!

Hope all enjoy and happy holidays!

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_Better Off This Way_

I guess I had it coming towards me, what with karma and all. Maybe it was payback for all those times that I had made fun of the awkward situations Lyla got herself into. Then again, maybe we just needed to find a new charm to put on the girls stairs. So, I had been in the middle of a calming, steaming-took all the hot water in the castle-shower when the door to the bathroom opened up. Since I could see nothing through the fog, I figured it was just Lyla or Blair coming to check and make sure I was still alive.

When there was no sound from the intruder, I had figured that person had left and so I flung back the shower door and prepared myself to step out and grab a fluffy red and gold towel from the stack next to the shower stall. That was when my eyes locked with a gray stare and my body stood frozen in place. Which is where I was now.

Screaming at my arms to snatch out and grab a towel while my arms refused to move from where they were (one hand on the wall, the other holding the door), I watched Sirius' eyes begin to travel down. Feeling a flush from the steam and definitely _not_ this persons stare, I was finally able to snap myself out of my daze and grab a covering. Whilst I wrapped myself in a towel, Sirius's ears flushed cherry red and he looked into the blank space in the bathroom.

I was just about to open my mouth, give the boy some forgiveness as he had probably been blinded for life, and tell him to kindly get the fuck out while I put some clothes on, when he opened his perfectly shaped mouth. "Nice mole."

"Black!" I shrieked and grabbed a hairbrush off the sink. I'm not even sure if it was _my _hairbrush, but I was suddenly not in the forgiving nor caring mood. You see, I have an oddly shaped patch of moles on my lower waist that forms a small hexagon. No idea how it happened or why, but it's there and I can't help it. Since he had seen it, this meant that his eyes had traveled farther south than I had hoped.

Brandishing the hairbrush, I stalked forward through the steam so he had to walk backwards to get away from me. When he had missed the doorway and successfully ended up with his back towards a roll of cosmetic products, I stepped as close as I could without having to get all up on him. "I'm going to make your life a living hell, Sirius Black. What made you think it was a good idea to _stalk_ me to my bathroom?" Without waiting for an answer I whacked his ebony hair with the smooth side of the brush.

"Ow!" He bellowed and ducked around me to get out the door. Rolling my eyes, I took off after him, gaining on him because he didn't know the lay of the land all that well. "Stop, Alexa, your going to kill me. Or worse: rip out my hair!" With an evil cackle I didn't know I could produce, I maneuvered myself over a bed and into his way before he had even made it halfway through our dorm room.

"I'm going to teach you a lesson in showing others some respect, Mr. Black," I said in a menacing voice. The look on Sirius' face immediately changed. His features darkened as if a shadow had fell over them and he stood firmer in place. I hesitated for a second and Sirius took that as his hint to speak for himself.

"So what's that supposed to mean? That it's okay for your 'boyfriend' to treat you like dirt with no respect at all and tell you who your friends are?" My hand immediately went to my nose, and I had to drop the hairbrush to grab my towel before it slipped. Note to self: wear more practical clothes before confronting psychotic people. Sirius raised an eyebrow, his ears turning red again as he watched my hands. "Well, is that what you're telling me?"

"I wasn't even talking about that, you twat," I groaned and picked up my weapon again, "but since that's what you want to talk about then let's. If you hadn't been eavesdropping than I would have never had to stop you from getting your ass kicked, and therefore I wouldn't have gotten my nose punched out." I rolled my eyes as Sirius puffed himself up in order to retaliate.

"There's not a snowballs chance in hell that Dearborn would have won that fight."

With a frustrated sigh, I walked over to my bed and hid behind the curtains, knowing this was going to be a much longer fight that I had intended it to be. Slipping on a pair of plain knickers, a bra, and a t-shirt big enough to work as a dress, I tore the curtains open again. Stumbling on the mattress, I was surprised to see Sirius standing right next to the curtains.

"Merlin! Stop creeping up on me," I caught my racing heart and then turned back to the subject we were on. "and is that all you really took from me yelling at you? That you could beat Caradoc, an older not to mention bigger person than you are. Yeah, right." It was Sirius's turn to roll his eyes as he stood across from where I was kneeling on my bed.

"No, I got what you were saying. And I've already apologized for that much. I'm just telling you that I think you deserve better and not someone who's going to tell you what to do." I opened my mouth to protest but he cut across me, "And before you say it, no, I don't know who that would be. Now, the whole reason I'm here is to strike a truce."

"No deal." I said automatically and Sirius narrowed his eyes at me. "No way, sorry. I can't trust you to not go psychotic on me. We've tried to be friends, it doesn't work, and so we aren't going to be friends." I felt stung by the words that were coming out of my mouth, but Sirius seemed to deflect them with his arrogance.

"This is still about Dearborn isn't it? You're going to take his ultimatum and choose him over me." With an angry humph and roll of his eyes, Sirius crossed his arms over his chest in a haughty manner. "That's going to make things awkward, isn't it?"

I took one look at his 'I win' expression and prepared myself to leap off the bed and throttle him. "Stop bringing Caradoc into it, he's nothing to do with the reason we can't be friends. You are such a toad that I can't risk coming near you without getting some kind of sexually transmitted disease." Sirius took a step closer to me ready with a retort when a laugh came from across the room.

My head spun quickly to look at the persons standing casually in the doorway. Remus had his arm around Lyla and her hand was reaching up to hold his. It was so cute I almost puked. "Top notch comeback, Alex, I'm waiting to hear the toad's now." Rolling my eyes, I climbed off my bed and walked away from Sirius who was glaring at my back.

"Don't try too hard, Lyls, he's not very bright. Although, I'd say Sirius is more of a mangy mutt than a toad." Remus stated to Lyla and she laughed another one of her tinkling laughs. I had to admit, even I was starting to smile a little. However, when Sirius opened his mangy mutt mouth (alliteration!) the smile was turned upside down.

"Try to talk some sense into her, Remus. She's completely unreasonable."

Squeezing my fists in fury, I turned to let him have the full, harsh force of my anger. "I'm the unreasonable one? You're the stalker who just won't give up." Rolling his eyes, Sirius walked towards the door with me trailing behind him, still not completely done yelling.

"Whatever, I'm out of here."

"Sure, run away without anything being resolved or fixed. It must be in your nature." It was harsh bringing up the past, like Sirius' running away from home, or when he caused Remus a lot of trouble one year (not sure what that was about, but I guess if he wanted me to know, Remus would have told me), but sometimes he just made me so angry. I stumbled backwards as Sirius turned to me on the stairs. It was a pity that, even though I was a stair above him, he was still taller than me.

"I'm not the one who's running away, Alexa. It's you and it always has been. When you've got your act together let me know." My mouth dropped open and I couldn't reply with a good enough comeback so I just spluttered until he was out of sight.

"Well, you suck!" I yelled down after he was already gone, but I'm sure he heard it. Turning quickly, I stalked back into the dorms before throwing myself down on the bed stomach down and burying my face in thee mattress. "Please refrain me from ever making such stupid retorts again." I said and was surprised Lyla could make out my muffled reply.

"Will do. And if you would please put some pants on to refrain from flashing your ass to my boyfriend that'd be okay too." Pulling myself up, I grabbed a pair of sweats and pulled them on, then an even larger sweater. "So, what actually happened? Your hair's still wet, so I'm assuming you were in the shower since the place is filled with steam. Tell me, did he barge in before or after you got out?"

With a groan I fell to the bed again. "Just as, actually. Suffice to say, it escalated from there and I may have beat him with someone's hairbrush. It's on the ground over there." I waved my arm in the general direction and Lyla jumped forward from her spot by the door to grab my weapon.

"Ah, just Blair's. No harm done just a few stray black hairs." I smiled victoriously as Lyla went and returned the brush to its rightful home in the bathroom. Looking to Remus who was staring with a curious expression at the floor, I spoke to him.

"Come on in, Reems. It's not like we're going to bite. I spent all my anger on your ebony-haired loser." Remus laughed slightly and made himself comfortable in the beanbag chair in-between mine and Lyla's beds. "So, how did no one know Sirius was going to do this?"

Lyla returned to her bed and began running her hand through Remus' hair. With an ache in my heart to have someone I could be so happy with, I almost missed the look of quick guilt flash between them. Almost. Sitting bolt straight, I narrowed my gaze on the two love birds. "You knew. Girl, I will cut you!" Lyla jumped as I put my hand on my hips the best I could. You won't like me when I'm angry. Haha!

"No; Remus knew and he told me which is why we came up here after we heard you shriek Black's name. We thought something more interesting was going to happen, but we waited to intervene until we thought the main event was over." Lyla paused and then she a Remus began to laugh again.

"Are you joking me? You just let him walk in and see a full-frontal view of me? In the shower!" Remus shrugged while Lyla tried to pull herself together. "We didn't think he would be dumb enough to walk in when the water was going."

I rolled my eyes and jumped off the bed, rummaging around for my slippers. "Of course he would be just that stupid. He's a perverted git!" Slipping into my shoes, I made my way towards the door. When I reached for the handle, Lyla called out to me. "Where are you going? Please, don't be mad, Alex!" I didn't reply as I walked out of the dorm and closed the door, gently, behind me. Of course I wasn't mad at Lyla or Remus, but I was so worked up from the past two days that I needed to work some of my energy off.

And what better way than to sneak into the kitchen to have some soothing hot chocolate. Maybe I would even bribe a house-elf into nicking me a book from the library. I'd have to nice though. Never mind.

Anyways, I made my way down the stairs when I heard raised voices in the common room. Hoping upon hope that it was some small fourth year brawl, I hurried down the rest of the stairs jumping the last two. I saw James heading down the boy's dorm and met him in the hall to the actual common room. "Three sickles on the bigger child." he said as we hurried along. However, when we got to the fight, he let out a dejected sigh. "Never mind, you won't bet on this one."

He was right, of course. Because standing in front of me was Caradoc and Sirius, both with angry red faces, and both standing at opposite ends of the room. This was the only good thing that I could see, because in this position they couldn't really do any physical harm to the other people in the room. Neither boy saw me because I'm sure that if they had, they would have ran for their lives. Because I. Was. Pissed.

"You think that you can just go and make a pervert out of yourself with any girl you want, Black? Well, listen here; you stay away from my girlfriend!"

"I can do whatever I please with whomever I want because she's not your girl anymore, is she Dearborn?" Sirius struck his arrogant pose again and Caradoc made a move to attack him, but restrained himself when he saw James, whom I was hiding behind.

"Don't touch my chaser, Sirius. And don't you harm my beater, Caradoc." James called out from across the room. Both boys acknowledged him, but neither made any intonation that they would follow his order. But for now the fighting was only with words.

"She still is, Black and from what I've seen, she doesn't even want you."

"Which isn't saying much because she doesn't want you either. So why don't we just admit we're in the same boat, you stop bossing her around, and then we can let her decide, eh? Kind of like that little ultimatum that you threw her way? What a way to be a man, Dearborn."

I felt my head begin to spin as I tried not to rush both boys and smash their heads together in order for them to understand that I was a person, not an object. I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Blair standing beside me, but as far away from James as possible. I groaned internally; there was no way I could deal with this and a mopey Blair at the same time. "It's alright, don't worry about me." Blair whispered in that way that she always knows what I'm thinking.

As Caradoc and Sirius continued to exchange words, Lyla and Remus trailed down the stairs to see what the commotion was. "Of course," Remus said as he reached us. He quickly maneuvered himself between me and the rest of the crowd so I could hardly see what was going on. Sure, I was thankful he would take care of his girlfriend's sibling and his friend, but why was everyone so keen on protecting me? "Did you tell them to watch it because of the Quidditch match Sunday?"

James nodded his confirmation and turned back to the fight. The rest of us did so as well. It was nearing an end now and I stepped around James to see what was going on. Sirius and Caradoc walked towards each other and my blood began to boil as I listened to their words.

"I can bet you that within one month she'll have forgotten all about you, Black," Caradoc said as he extended his hand.

"And I bet you that by the end of that month she'll be saying my name." Sirius said with so much confidence I would have believed him. "Winner?" He asked with a cocky air as if he thought he had won the bet already.

"Gets to pursue whomever they wish without interference. Loser backs away and doesn't mess with the relationship." Caradoc said. They exchanged quieter words and I saw the words _shag_ and _bring it_ being exchanged. And that was the icing on the cake.

"You make that bet and I can guarantee you that by the time your hands clasp both of you will be singing two octaves higher and feeling considerably lighter without most of your parts." Both boys froze at the sound of my voice and dropped their hands almost immediately. "I can't believe you, Caradoc. Oh, Sirius, sure. I'd believe that everyday of my life. But I thought you really wanted this to work and that you wanted my forgiveness?"

He opened his mouth, but I cut him off again. "Forget it, forget that I _ever_ spoke to you." Turning away, I addressed Sirius. "There is no way in hell that I would ever want you or _say your name_." I said condescendingly, then, turning away I made my exit. It would have been great had I realized where I was going, but then I remembered that I was surrounded in the same house with the two idiots and couldn't really go anywhere. Plus, I was in basically pajamas and house slippers.

Killing myself for being such a spaz, I took off towards the stairs while James and Remus rounded on Caradoc, leaving Sirius to wallow in his own grief. They probably figured he'd taken a bigger beating earlier courtesy of me. Lyla and Blair took a moment before following me to deliver a slap to Sirius and Caradoc, respectively. I was already pulling my hair into a bun when they walked in.

"Al, we're so sorry." That was all they could manage before I ripped my curtains shut in their face. This too, would have worked had they not pulled to hard and sent half the bed's posts falling down. I stared to the heavens for a moment before we all three started laughing. We collapsed onto my bed in a fit of giggles, and there was a large groan before that too collapsed to the ground. Now I was curtain less and bed less and in serious need to pee.

F my life.

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The next morning I was in a bit of a rush. The alarm hadn't been set right and I was about ten minutes late to class. When I finally reached the doors to the Transfiguration classroom, my hair had come loose from it's bun, my mascara was smudged, and I had only just realized that my skirt was on backwards. This, however, was not as mortifying as figuring out that I still had to be tutored during our Friday lessons because I was on the verge of getting a Troll on my next essay.

While I looked around frantically for Lyla or Blair, I saw James waving to me from across the room. Okay, so he was sitting with a seat between he and Caradoc, but I guess sitting with James wasn't as bad as things could have been. I sighed heavily as I dropped my overflowing bag onto the table and sunk into the wooden desk chair. "We shall keep this strictly professional." I whispered out of the corner of my mouth as McGonagall gave us the regular instructions about what we had been going over earlier this week.

She was correct in her assumption about my failing grade, because as she spoke I realized that this was a very advanced lesson that I must have missed out on learning. As we broke into our study groups, I turned slightly in my chair to where Caradoc was taking his papers from his bag to begin re-teaching me what must have been extremely easy for him to learn. With a lurch, I felt bad for him and that he would have to give up his study period to tutor a girl who was pissed at him.

"Listen, Caradoc, I just-" He glanced up at me through his thick brownish-blonde hair and I found that my heart was spastically jumping in my rib cage. It sucks when you're mad at the guy who causes you to have heart problems. When I opened my mouth again, he turned back to his work so he wouldn't have to look at me. I stuttered for a moment before spluttering through my next few words. "I'm not going to yell at you or anything. I just wanted to apologize."

He looked up so sharply that I was rendered speechless again by his stupid dazzling blue eyes. Curse him! He looked around quickly as if I was going to turn into some kind of monster or like I was tricking him. Was I really that much of a bitch? Anyways, he put his quill down on his Standard Book of Spells Grade 6 and looked at me intently. "Why?" He muttered at last after a few intense moments of awkward staring.

I let out an internal sigh and tried my best to talk civilly. "Because I'm such a stupid person and you're being punished by tutoring the person who basically threatened your way of reproduction. And this is so awkward because I still think you're dead sexy and I still want to punch your face in." Caradoc laughed slightly and I blushed at my words. Could I be anymore of an idiot around this guy?

"Well, you don't really have anything to apologize for. It's me that should be apologizing to you. I was stupid, Al, and I let myself think that if I could get Black out of the picture that I would have the chance to be with you for longer," I was going to interrupt, but he kept speaking, "And I know that it's stupid and that if you had wanted him you wouldn't have chosen me, but he wants you Alexa. That's besides the point though. I just want you to know that it was wrong of me to tell you who you should hang out with and I'm sorry for being such an ass."

I sat, stunned for little over a minute and jumped about a mile in the air as McGonagall tapped me sharply on the shoulder. "I believe this is Transfiguration, Ms. Parker, not stare yourself silly." Shaking my head with little enthusiasm, I turned back to my 'work' without addressing Caradoc's latest apology. The boy had been apologizing so much lately that I wasn't sure how to take it. Sure, he kept screwing up as well, but he seemed so sincere and honest that I just wanted to forgive everything.

"Al? Are you okay?" It was James entering the conversation now and I turned my back to Caradoc as I addressed James's question.

"I'm fine, James, but now is really not the time to talk about it. I'll tell you about it after class, alright?" James looked sated for the time being and when I had finally turned back around, he was done making mean faces at the boy behind me. Luckily, Caradoc had gone back to outlining the notes for me so I could have something to use as a guide when studying. "Caradoc?" I asked whilst looking into my hands so I wouldn't feel like such a mean person for causing the only person with good intentions heartbreak.

"Don't say it, Alexa. I can take the hint that you don't want to be involved," He ran a hand through his hair, tossing his other hand wearily over his face. "Frankly, I don't blame you either. Black and I weren't quite the Romeo's last night with our little performance. You deserve someone who can take care of you and not get jealous every time you talk to someone."

"But I like when you get jealous." I said softly, leaning closer to him and away from the curious James. I pulled my hand over his in the pretense of pointing to something on the parchment. "And I like that you can protect me from people who aren't looking out for my best interest." Caradoc looked at our entwined hands for a moment before looking back up at me. Not really noticing the difference, I kept on with my rant. "So, you know what, forget about Sirius. All he's ever done is mess with me and pull me in the wrong direction. I'd be with you over him any time, any where."

"So what does this mean for us?" Caradoc asked, flipping his hand over and capturing mine in his. Our fingers wrapped around each others, fitting a little awkwardly, but perfect to me just the same. I smiled and squeezed his hand while wanting so badly to kiss him. It was time that I grew up and put petty fights behind me. This was a boy who wanted to be there for me even when I was a psycho crazy person who would randomly speak words that made no sense. So what if Sirius was out to get me or that it never seemed like I was on the same page with a bunch of the people surrounding me; this was the one thing in my life that was going to go right. And, damn it, I was going to get it right this time!

"I think that we could try this all again," Holding out my other hand, I grinned like the Cheshire cat. "Hi! I'm Alexa Parker. There's a Hogsmeade weekend coming up soon and if you're not doing anything, I thought we could go together?"

Taking my other hand in his, Caradoc laughed along with my joke. "Sure, Alexa Parker, I would love to go to Hogsmeade with you. And perhaps we could get together later this week to study? There's a student that I'm tutoring at Transfiguration. She's not too bad, but a little extra practice never hurts."

I smiled and quickly extracted my hand from his as McGonagall came around a second time. "Assuming that smile on your face is pertaining to this lesson, I'm going to congratulate you on working everything out. Excellent work, Mr. Dearborn." I laughed quickly. She was either a clueless teacher or she was just kidding with us. Either way it was funny.

"Thanks, Professor," Caradoc gave her a heart stopping grin and _she_ even looked stunned for a moment before calling the class to order and then dismissing us all. "So, shall I take that as a yes?" Caradoc asked and I nodded my head in agreement. "Well, then I will see you soon. Stop by at lunch if you want too." I watched as he got up and walked casually out of the classroom. My heart stopped as he turned at the door and sent me a discreet wink that everyone in the class noticed. As soon as I was sure he was gone, I gave a small little victory dance as the people around me began to gossip about the latest adventure the crazy Gryffindor, a.k.a. me, was having.

Gathering my stuff quickly, I shoved everything into my canvas bag and then spun the bag on my shoulder as I turned to go. I jumped a little as I saw James leaning up against the desk waiting for me, which was a usual occurrence, but what was not was the look on his face. It was like he was ready to pitch me off the Astronomy tower without a second glance. I gave a small shudder as he motioned stiffly for me to walk ahead. However, just in case he was going to turn on me, I let him go before I fell into step slightly behind him. You can never be too cautious.

"So you and Dearborn were pretty chatty today. Thinking of giving him a second chance?" I sent James a questioning glance before trying not to get extremely angry at him for totally listening in on my conversations. The boy just didn't know when to quit but at least he wasn't as bad as Sirius. "I heard you two talking and I just want you to know that it's a bad idea."

"Well, you don't make my decisions for me, do you Potter?" The use of his last name had James stopping and pulling on my arm to slow me down and turn me towards him. "Let go of me, James. I'm a big girl and can make my own choices in life. I get that you aren't approving of Caradoc or the relationship that happens between us, but it's none of your business. If you hadn't noticed, your best friend is no better and before you say it I know that he has something to do with this." I motioned between us and James let go of my arm.

"I'm just looking out for my friends, Alex. And when people mess with those that I consider family it hurts me too. I know that Sirius hurt you, but was it worse than what Caradoc was ready to do?" James waved his hand in the direction of the Great Hall where sounds of laughter and silverware clanking could be heard. "Alexa, did you ever think about how your getting together with my beater and chaser would effect my team as well? They fight constantly during practice and we get nothing done."

I outright laughed as James said this and shook my head at him. "So now what? You're going to blame your terrible captaining on me? I _seriously_ doubt it, James. And to inform you, what Sirius did was way worse than whatever you think Caradoc did. I don't know what you heard or saw but stepping out with my _best friend_ when he knew I had feelings for him was pretty low."

James's face took on a pitying look as he peered down at me and I just knew that what he was about to say would piss me off for the rest of the day. He didn't disappoint. "Well with the way you're acting now, taking somebody back and being all fickle, Bree probably was the obvious choice." My eyes narrowed in anger as James realized his mistake all too late. "Now, now, Alex, let's be reasonable. What I meant,"

"Was that you're a wanker with his head stuck up his ass? Yeah, that's what I thought too. I can't believe you, James, we are supposed to be friends and here you are comparing me to a slut who's not worth anything but a sexually transmitted disease. Thank you, Mr. Ass." Turning around and stalking away, I didn't bother to turn as James yelled after me. As I stomped into the Great Hall, a couple of harried second years jumped out of my way and I think I may have actually growled.

About to sit next to Blair, I decided to stick it to James, Sirius, and the rest of the people who thought they could rule my life and I walked down the table to where Caradoc and some of his friends were sitting. Sure, it would be awkward to be the only girl at this end of the table, but it was a chance I was going to have to take. Lyla sent me a questioning glance as I sat, and I shrugged and looked pointedly at James who was just walking into the hall looking furious. It was then that I noticed someone staring holes into the back of my neck.

My hair stood on end as I turned and received the first of the worst glares I had ever been acquainted with in my life. Sirius turned his lips up in an almost satanic sneer and I wondered if the apple really didn't fall far from the Black tree. I shuddered remembering his cousin Bella from last year. I was about to rethink my decision when Caradoc looked up and took my hand as I sat down next to him. It was a little disconcerting to meet all of the open stares coming from his friends, but I figured this was my choice and I would have to live with it.

I only allowed myself one glance down to the other end of the table and I immediately wished I hadn't. Both James and Sirius were watching me with such hawk-like glares that I thought they would take flight. Turning back to Caradoc and his friends, I realized that they were talking about things of which I had no idea. "You know what I mean, Alexa?" He asked and I put on a smile while stuffing my face with mashed potatoes.

"Aren't girls supposed to eat less than guys?" One of his friends, Andrew or something, asked and I dropped my fork. I waited for Caradoc to defend me but when he didn't, I stared, miffed that he would just sit there and let his friends bad mouth me. It went on all through lunch; my hair was too curly, I was too short for Caradoc, and so on. Finally, I had had enough.

"What are you, gay or some rot?" Caradoc looked up at me at last, but only shook his head and rolled his eyes, telling his friends to ignore me. They went back to talking about some seventh year girl that was putting out and I stared at my plate silently. Maybe I had made a mistake or maybe I was a little flabby.

But one thing I knew was that none of my guy friends that I had insulted by sitting down here would have stood by and let me be talked about. Yeah, I think I made a mistake.

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So, you know that saying, 'Relationships come and go but friends will always stay the same,' or perhaps, 'Hoes over bros?' Either way, neither really apply here. My afternoon classes (free period, potions, etc.) were so bloody boring that I was ready to tear my eyes out. Pair that with the fact that I had pissed off my best guy friend, and said friend's girlfriend was trying to get information on why we were mad and I was ready to jump off the Astronomy tower. Thank God that class had been canceled because Sinistra had a, shudder, date.

I'm sorry, but it eludes me on why she can get a date whenever she fancies and the rest of us have to battle it out to get a boy to look at us. Come on! The woman is even more kooky than that seventh year that graduated a couple of years ago, Trollop or Trelawney or something. But where was I? Oh, yes, talking about how awkward class was. So James isn't looking at me, Blair is making weird gestures across the room, and Lyla is trying to keep Sirius from knifing me. This all happened in potions too.

And all the while, Sluggy is just chatting away at the front of the classroom to Lily acting like all is well and he's not turning into a man the size of a small elephant. Needless to say, when class was dismissed I bolted. Since it was a free period, I grabbed Lyla by the arm and drug her to the common room before she and Remus could get together for a secret tryst and leave me behind with Sirius.

"Slow the fire, Alex, or you're going to rip my arm from its socket." I slowed my pace only a small amount so now we were only slightly speed walking instead of sprinting. Lyla slowed to a pace that was way too slow and I skidded to a halt. "I will not hesitate to immobilize you. Besides, I wanted to meet up with Remus in the Common Room." I pretended to be calm as I walked a bit backwards to grab her arm again. Then I yanked hard and sent us tumbling down the hallway again.

"No trysts for you today, young apprentice. Because Remus equals Sirius, who equals hatred of me, which equals me bawling my eyes out in the lavatory." Lyla rolled her eyes, deciding to give in and skip down the corridor with me. "It's always easier to just submit to the madness," I told my sister knowingly while she ran the rest of the way to the portrait of the fat lady.

"Shenanigans," Lyla said in the testy voice since she had been rejected my the portrait for having such a potty mouth the last time she had forgotten the password. With a sniff the portrait opened for us and I winked at the fat lady who had always liked me better. "Besides, I don't even know why he's mad at you. What's the big deal if you sit with your boyfriend at meals? It's not like Caradoc is a Slytherin."

"Yes, but therein lies the problem. If he _was_ a Slytherin then James would have every right to hate him seeing as what they stand for. But he's not and he's James's star chaser which makes not sense. The only reason James is mad is because I chose to fall for Caradoc and not his best friend." Saying it all out-loud and getting it off my chest felt good and I looked over to Lyla with a small smile on my face. Though this wasn't really a smiling moment, she smiled back and laid her head on my shoulder as we walked.

"Or maybe James has a crush on you?" It was silent for a moment before we both started laughing. It was a good thing that the common room was empty too because we were laughing so outrageously that tears were streaming down Lyla's face, causing small rivulets of mascara to mar her perfect complexion. Whore.

When I had finally gained some composure, I looked at the fire burning cheerfully in the fireplace. "That's not even possible. He's so in love with Blair that I would never see them breaking up. And who would have thought that the boy who was so in love with Lily could ever fall for a girl like our best friend? The two are practically polar opposites."

Lyla finished cleaning her face off with the back of her navy sweater and looked at me with a large grin. "Maybe that's the reason he likes her so much. She's such a one-eighty from Ms. Smarty-Pants." I nodded before looking at the large black stain on hr sweater. Laughing again, I pulled out my Transfiguration homework and sat it on the table.

"We are such idiots, you know that?" I said pointing to her sweater. Lyla laughed and shrugged whilst pulling out her own homework.

"At least we have fun doing it," I nodded in assent and we turned to the correct pages of our books. "So how is the tutoring going? Is that what all happened that made you turn around and give Caradoc a second chance? Which, by the way, is not really like you little sister. You're usually the one that doesn't forgive and doesn't forget."

"Yeah, well, you know what happens when you sit me with a boy that has the most beautiful baby blues you've ever seen. And besides," I said while tucking a piece of curly hair behind my ear, "He really was sorry and there wasn't really that much that he was hoping to be forgiven for. He messed up, sure," I defended when I saw her questioning look, "But at least he wasn't with Bree."

"Amen to that, brother." I rolled my eyes and we worked in silence for about half an hour before I voiced a question that had been bothering me for awhile. "Do you think I'm getting fat?" The answer was a pillow to the face. That consisted in me knocking the ink-well all over the table, soaking the faded brown wood with a black smear. "Whoops."

"Honestly, it's like you're a witch for nothing." With a wave of her wand, the smear was diminished into nothingness. "What's with the crazy questions? Next you'll be asking me if your hair is too curly or if you don't wear enough make-up. You're not turning into an Andy are you?" She took my silence as a yes, when I was clearly only shocked by the thought. "May you be healed!" She shouted while pressing a hand to my forehead and pushing my back.

"Lyla! You psycho! Of course, I'm not; that would be blasphemous," Rubbing my head a little, I finished off the last of my essay before handing it to Lyla to proof read. She did the same and patted me on the head when she was done, only having to make a few corrections on the sheet. "Caradoc's making progress with you, I see?" She asked.

This, however, was probably not a good thing to say as Sirius and James had just walked in. James and Blair were finished with their last class and Sirius had had a free with us and Remus. I peered around for the mysterious boy, though he was nowhere to be had. "So, he's won the bet on the first day then?" Surprisingly, this question came from James. I opened my mouth to respond, but Blair had already whacked him on the arm and was dragging him up to our dorms, sending me apologizing looks the whole way.

Sirius and I locked eyes for a brief moment before he turned away and stalked to a chair in the corner where I saw Remus sitting. Was that boy a ghost or some shit? Where did he come from? I felt a light tap on my shoulder and I turned to see Lyla watching me warily. "I'm not going to get up and maul him, promise." Holding up my hand, I placed it over my heart in promise. "I am, however, going to go upstairs and spy on the two lovebirds. Blair is supposed to be asking James what the," I trailed off at my sister's strict glare. Right, keep it pg. "What his problem is."

Smiling broadly and flicking her wand to annoyingly gather our things into our bags, Lyla shouldered her satchel and walked towards the girl's dorms. I stuck my tongue out at her back and crossed my eyes. "If you're done being childish we can go be secretive," Grudgingly, I picked up my own satchel and threw it around my neck and fixed it so it wouldn't choke me. "I'm always right," She cooed creepily and I shoved her lightly as I fought to get up the stairs first.

"Whatever." I said as we pushed and shoved until we were at last at our dorm. "I totally won that." I wheezed out of breath and slightly bruised.

Lyla shook her head emphatically. "No, I know for a fact that you didn't win that. I definitely did."

I let out a huff as I leant against the wall. "Right, and I party." She opened her mouth to retort when Remus's voice cut us off. "It'd be great to hear all the aspects of why you don't party, Alex, but Sirius and I are interested in why Blair looked like she was going to rip James in two earlier and why he looked like he was going to hit her. Not that he would," He quickly corrected as Lyla and I got ready to beat down the closed dormitory door.

"Let's just do this," Sirius said as he saw Lyla prepare to retaliate. She and Remus were so cute when they pretend fought. I turned to Sirius who was looking even more dark than usual. Unfortunately, that only made him even more attractive. "Whatever, moody broody," I mumbled, but I'm pretty positive he heard me by the way his face lit up a little. Ah, there was the boy that I knew. Feeling like I needed to do something to keep the smile on his face, I blurted out something random. "Caradoc and I don't progress together."

Well, that certainly didn't help as the smile fell from his face again. "Just cast the disillusionment charm." With a stiff nod, I cloaked us all to blend with the walls. "I'll never get used to that." Lyla said as she shivered against the feeling that liquid was being poured over her head. There was no way to tell where everyone was so I stealthily crept towards the door before running into someone.

"Watch where you're going Alexa, I'm not feeling too well today." That was definitely Remus, which would explain why whomever it was stood taller than me, but not as hard as Sirius. My hands went out in front of me and I heard Remus laugh. "I'm going to forgive you since you can't see, but shall we keep our hands to ourselves from now on?"

"My bad, Remus. You shall have the honors of opening the door, just don't let them know you're there." The door quickly opened and we all shuffled through as quickly as we could. James and Blair didn't even notice. They were standing at separate ends of the room, mirroring each others movements. Blair had her arms crossed and her hip cocked to the side while James took the stance to a bigger level by raising an eyebrow.

"You're taking this out of control, James. It was one thing and you know that she likes you and wants me out of the way. The question is why you suddenly care so much about it. Are you into her, James? Tell me right now or so help me," Blair was saying before James cut her off.

"I think you're the one who's overreacting to this, Blair." Running his hands through his hair he sighed and looked to where Lily clearly slept. It wasn't just me who noticed the caring look his face took on. A question hit me as his voice found him again. How had we not noticed this before? "And it hurts me that you even have to ask that question. You know that I love you."

Blair shook her head as her voice began to shake and I could tell that she was close to tears. "It hurts more to have to ask, okay? I know that you love me, but I'm not sure anymore if I'm the only person your heart is reaching out to," With that Blair really did start to cry and James made to move towards her as she turned away. "Just leave, James, leave until you figure out what you really want."

"No, Blair, we haven't finished talking yet. And if you aren't going to listen then I'm going to tell you anyways," He reached her finally and turned her so she was being held almost a foot away from him. The dread in the pit of my stomach was almost enough to make me puke. I grabbed my hand out to try and find someone and found a hand in my own.

"Lyla?" I whispered as quietly as I could and the hand in mine squeezed. I turned back to the couple in front of me and almost started crying myself. I was going to rip James a new one if he broke my friends heart.

"It's just, Lily has been in my life for so long. I love you, Bear, and you know that you'll always have a space in my heart, but right now I can't be with you when I'm feeling mixed up with my feeling for her as well." Blair let out a sob and wrenched from James's hold only for him to step around her and try to keep talking. "Babe, I'm sorry. Please, we just need to take a small break. we'll both be better off this way for now."

With that, Blair unleashed a fury that I had never seen before in almost sixteen years of knowing her. "How about what I'm feeling James?! Do you have any idea what it's like to have your heart shredded? To always, _always_ come in second best to someone else that _your_ boyfriend loves? Yeah, come back and talk to me when you know how that feels."

James floundered for words as the tears stopped Blair from saying more. "I'm so sorry, Blair. Please, I'm so sorry." With a wave of my wand I figured it was time to step in and save my friend from this rat-bastard.

"Leave her alone, James." We had all been revealed and Blair fell into Lyla as she rushed over to her. "I swear if you don't get out of my sight, so help me you will be out that window before you can say sorry again." James's face darkened as he turned towards me. I was still upset from earlier and maybe that was what was fueling my fire, but he had just broken my friend and I was going to get him away from her.

"Come on, Prongs, let's just give everyone time to handle this." That was Sirius grabbing James and towing him out of the dorm as Blair and Lyla both cried together. That was Lyla for you, always the sympathetic crier. James was still saying sorry by the time they were gone and I slammed the door shut before going over to my best friends. "He's an ass, Blair, don't think about him."

"If he didn't see what he had with you than the boy was either stupid or just plain blind," Lyla's mangled voice spoke out and I conjured up two tissue boxes for them. "How about if we hole up in here for the rest of the weekend? We won't have to see any of the boys and we can do girl power things." She suggested as Blair blew her nose in the most unladylike way possible.

"Or we could burn our bras!" I said, thinking about all those feminists over in the U.S of A. Both my friends looked at me and I shrugged while taking on an innocent look. "Just trying to lighten the mood." Blair managed a smile that looked like something out of a nightmare and I couldn't help but lose my smile as well. "We're going to be here for you, Blair, for all of it."

Blair nodded and wiped her eyes as the tears kept falling. "I don't want you guys to suffer because of me. But how could I not have known. He's always loved her, hasn't he? I was such an idiot for putting all of my faith in this guy. I've never been like that before. I became one of those needy girls and I didn't even know it," She flung her arms around while sniffing heavily. "And now look at me, all I want to do is grieve." With another great cry, she put her face in the pillow and held hugged herself. "I feel like I'm going to implode."

Lyla and I looked at each other helplessly. How were we supposed to help this out? We had no experience; it had always been hoes before bros, but no one had ever been this into a guy before. Suddenly, the door opened and I groaned audibly at the person standing there. Trying to signal for the redhead to get out of the zone of fire, not only because Blair was sure to go on a rampage but because she was the cause of the break-up.

Blair looked up before Lily knew what was going to happen and she stared for a moment before her face twisted in rage. Lily, however, didn't have the girl IQ to know this was going to end in blood shed. "I heard Blair. And I'm really sorry but I want you to know that I didn't want this to happen." It was silent for a beat and Lily ventured further into the room while Lyla and I lurched in front of Blair; not only to stop Lily from seeing our friend, but to keep her from killing Lily.

"You didn't know this was going to happen?" Blair's voice sounded like she had been screaming for days. "Get the fuck out of my sight, Evans. You are the reason all of this has happened. _You_ are the reason I lost the person I love. _You _are the reason _we can't be happy_!" All three of us jumped as Blair shrieked.

"Blair, please, I know you're upset but let's not blame," Lyla started but Blair lashed out at her as well.

"You're taking her side, Lyla, this is unreal." She let out a fake sounding laugh that made my throat catch. "Who else is going to turn on me today? Let's see, Alex, are you ready to get on me for something I did? Do I not have a right to be pissed and upset as hell? We dated for nine freaking months and for me, that's long enough to be in love. So don't tell me who to blame." Jumping off the bed, she turned towards the door to the bathroom and my heart went out to my bestie who was always put together and now looked totally undone.

"Bear," I started only realizing my mistake too late. The tears started again as she turned away from us. "Don't call me that." She walked dejectedly to the bathroom, slamming the door so hard the room shook. Seconds later, the water turned on, drowning out her crying. Lyla walked to the door to check, but found it locked and she leaned her head against it for a moment or two.

Lily was, however, over at Blair's bed looking at a photo of the nonexistent couple. I walked over to sit on my bed that was next to Blair's. Finally, setting the picture back, Lily looked over at me with a sad smile. "It was my fault, wasn't it? I just ruined two peoples lives and I don't know why I did it. It's not like I like Potter either, and I really do feel close to Blair." Hurrying back over to her bed, Lily wrapped her hair in a rubber band and then grabbed her bag to head to the door. Without a look back she mumbled quickly to herself as she left the room.

Lyla sat down next to me and I felt the bed dip slightly as we laid on opposite ends. "We've got to make this right, Alex. I can't see Blair like this." I sat up on my elbows and un-tucked my uniform shirt.

"Then let's get on the damage control."

I felt like there should have been music playing as Lyla and I exited the dorm almost three hours later. Blair had refused to leave the bathroom and after sitting in the dorm and trying to devise a plan we decided it was best to just wing it. The plan was going to be anything that kept us away from James, not only because he was a backstabbing boyfriend, but because he was already starting to sabotage my tedious relationship with Caradoc. Now it was around eight o'clock and Lyla and I were trudging down to the Great Hall for some grub.

As we walked into the hall, a cluster of about six third years hesitantly walked up to Lyla and I stopping us before we could go any further to the hall. "Well, are you going to say anything or just stay in our way?" I snapped as the girls continued to stare up at us. Lyla rolled her eyes at me as she turned to address the girls that seemed to be gaining confidence. I noticed their robes had the Hufflepuff trim and felt slightly guilty for being mean to such small girls.

"What my comrade means is what can we help you with?"

The blonde haired little girl squared her shoulders and smiled harmlessly. Her voice was shy and timid and the brunettes behind her were the same way. "We just heard about James Potter and his girlfriend. Does this mean that he's in need of a new girlfriend?" The look on my face turned to one of slight admiration; this kid had balls to go up against Blair's best friends. However, the look on Lyla's face quickly turned dark with anger.

"Move out of the way and tell the rest of your posse that he's off limits and definitely not single." When the girl didn't move, Lyla looked down at her with a threatening look. "I said move!" The girls scampered away and we moved together towards the Gryffindor table. One of the only people from sixth year sitting at the table was Remus and we looked around quickly to make sure none of the other Marauders were present.

"This sucks," I said as we sat down on either side of my current favorite mischief maker. "What the hell was he thinking, Remus? She's been holed up in the bathroom for the past few hours and she won't speak to anyone. Not to mention the fact that I had to go the fifth year dorm to use the restroom. Do you even know how many beauty products those girls had each?" I dragged some macaroni and cheese onto my plate and dug in without waiting for an answer.

Doing one of those sickening couple things where they roll their eyes together, Remus addressed my question while pouring Lyla some tea. "I couldn't honestly tell you that either, Alexa. James just went upstairs, lashed out against Sirius, and shut himself up in his bed without talking to any of us. Peter doesn't make it much better by asking so many questions either."

I nodded before swallowing hard. "So, on another note, I'm pretty sure that I need your help in figuring something out." When I was positive that I had his attention, I brought up what happened at lunch earlier although it seemed like so long ago. "Well, Caradoc's friends were kind of criticizing me at lunch today and he didn't say anything to defend me. I mean, I know that we just started to work it all back out, but you would think that he'd want to take up for me and gain back my respect. Or at least that's what I thought anyways."

Remus looked at me for a minute before opening his mouth to respond but he was cut off when Lyla jumped from her seat abruptly. "Oh, I just had a fantastic idea. Alex, I'll see you later, make sure you get some major supplies for Blair later." With that she kissed Remus, blushed, and then ran to catch up with….Lily? We watched her go and then exchanged questioning looks with each other.

"While we're discussing relationships, why don't we discuss the spottiness of your sister?" I tried a slight smile while my cheeks were bursting with juice. "Well, I think I know why Caradoc might have been laughing just a bit."

Throwing a roll, I laughed a bit with Remus. It quickly turned sober again as I poked dejectedly at my food. "I'm going to beat him, Remus, he's torn her apart and now Lyla is trying to get them back together using Lily. What the heck are we going to do?" Remus shrugged and then pointed behind me where someone I hadn't seen in awhile was standing. Andy waved evilly and then winked as she sashayed out of the hall.

"Well, it looks like we've got another problem as well."

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Amulet Girl's Author's Note: Well, wasn't that just the longest, most delicious chapter ever! I for one and tremendously proud of my dearest friend; even though I had to practically threaten her to write, she pulled out an amazing chapter! So anyways, I will try to have the next chapter up as soon as possible. Oh, and I hope you lot had a very happy Christmas, or whatever holiday you celebrate!

p.s. the more reviews we get the sooner the next chapter will come! So, review, review, review!!!


	12. Die or Perish your choice?

Disclaimer: We don't own these lovely characters, but if we did they would be our cabana boys who would cater to our every needs. Sigh.

Author's Note (Amulet Girl): Well, here is the chapter! I am extremely sorry that it took so long, but my power has been out and I haven't been able to do much writing. So, i pushed through it and now here it is! Enjoy and don't forget to leave a lovely little review!

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_Die or Perish; your choice_

You know those days, where everything is going according to plan, and you are just so happy that everything is working out? Well, I'm here to tell you, that those days don't exist; they are a lie to promote the highly overrated optimism. Why the pessimism? To be blunt, today has been nothing short of hell for everyone. Everything is changing around us. For one, Blair is constantly going from being depressed to extreme fits of anger because James broke up with her; and Alexa and I can't figure out what to do about it. Alexa took Caradoc back, and who the hell knows how Sirius feels about it; it's too complicated to figure out what's going on in their little love triangle that none of them will admit exists. And, just as things started settling down and Lily was becoming our friend, Blair hates her and James apparently loves her.

So here I am, trying to make all things right. While eating with Alexa and Remus, I had an epiphany on what to do about the whole Blair/James issue. I knew there was no way in hell that we could all be friends again until they either worked out all their problems or they got over each other completely; either way, I thought Lily could be of some assistance. What my plan was, I had no idea, but I'm sure I'll think of something eventually. First things first, I have to get Lily on board.

I quickly made my down a corridor, trying to catch up with Lily. Man, she was a fast walker! I rounded a corner and caught sight of her brilliant red hair. "Lily! Lily, wait!" I yelled as I passed a group of perplexed second years. Lily stopped and turned toward me. When I was in front of her I stopped and caught my breath. "Has anyone ever told you that you walk unnaturally fast?"

Lily laughed a little, "Actually, I have heard that once or twice. So, what's up?"

I took one last deep breath and then continued, "Well, I was wondering if we could talk for a few minutes."

"About?" she asked.

"About Blair and James." She looked away and her body tensed up like she was nervous.

"Yeah, sure," she replied with an emotionless voice.

"First, I just wanted to let you know that Alexa and I don't blame you for what happened between Blair and James. I mean, we know that you don't like James," Lily looked away once again and remained silent. "You don't like him, right?" I asked raising my eyebrow at Lily.

Lily quickly came to life, "Oh, no, no, no. Definitely not, no way. I do not like James Potter."

I probably could have asked a number of questions to make sure her answer was sincere but we didn't have time, and frankly, I didn't really care, as long as she stayed away from James. "Getting to the real reason of why I'm here, we can't all be friends until this mess goes away. Now, I don't see them working this out on their own anytime soon, so they are going to need a little assistance. I'm usually not one to meddle," who was I kidding, I always meddle, "but I love Blair and James too much to stand by and watch them destroy their lives. We ultimately need to devise a plan to get them back together, and we want you to play some part in it. Then Blair will hopefully see that you want to help and all will be forgotten, maybe. So are you in?"

Lily stood there for a moment thinking about what I had just rambled off. "I feel terrible about all of this, so of course I will help in any way possible, but I'm not that great at devising plans." Immediately, the gears in my head started turning. I looked behind me and saw a stone bench just a little ways down. I turned and walked over to sit on the bench. Lily followed and I kept thinking. As she sat down next to me, she said, "You know, I don't even know why James likes me, I mean I have no qualities that he would find attractive. I'm nothing like Blair, and she is perfect for him." As soon as she said this, an idea popped into my head. I quickly looked to Lily, "What? Do I have something on my face?" she asked touching her face.

"No, there's nothing. It was just something you said; it gave me an idea. So, James like you for reasons unknown. Let's find out exactly what he finds attractive about you, you do them the complete opposite, he'll realize that he doesn't know you at all, and then he won't like you anymore and see that Blair is the girl for him," I said in one breath.

"Do you think that will work?" Lily asked doubting me.

"No idea, but we sure as hell are going to try it, unless you've got something better," I told her.

"Nope, I got nothing, your plan sounds good. So first, we need to find out what he likes about me. How shall we go about doing that?" she asked so naively.

"You leave that up to me.," I said choosing to leave out some key details. "So let us head back to the common room to see if Remus and Alexa are up there." I quickly hopped up off the bench and started making my way toward the common room, Lily walking by my side.

After walking for a few moments in silence, Lily spoke, "So, will Blair be mad that you and Alexa are spending time with me?"

I hadn't really thought about it. She would be pretty pissed, but she would be even more pissed if we didn't tell her about being friends with Lily and then she found out later that we were lying to her. "Yeah, she probably will be mad for a while, but if we try to hide it, and she finds out, we will all be up shit creek with zero chance of getting a paddle." Lily laughed a little at that.

As we got closer to the common room, I heard footsteps running toward us and heavy breathing. I stopped and looked behind me. Running toward Lily and I was Remus and Alexa; the winded breathing naturally coming from Alexa. They stopped in front of us and Alexa immediately doubled over, hands on her knees, and sucking in deep breaths. "Alexa, what's going on?" I asked a little startled.

"I…(breath)… I… (another deep breath)…," she struggle to say.

"I what?" I pressed. Without saying a word, Alexa held up her hand to pause us all.

After a couple more deep breaths, Alexa stood up straight and looked at all of us. "Sweet Merlin! I really need to work out more. I nearly died!"

I looked over to Remus, seeking an explanation; he just rolled his eyes at my dear sister. "Alex, we weren't even running that fast, at best you could call it a fast jog," Remus said.

Alexa's eyes widened, "Whatever! I was like full on sprinting," she argued.

"If that's true, then that's really sad," he said back. I laughed, I knew for a fact that Alexa's sprint was closer to a light jog.

"Watch it, Lupin," she said narrowing her eyes on Remus. He just laughed in reply. "Anyway, the reason that we _sprinted_ here," she said putting extreme emphasis on the word sprinted. "She's back," Alexa said very creepily, dragging out the 'A' in back.

"What on Earth are you talking about?" I questioned.

"After you left to go look for Lily, Remus and I were just sitting there and he noticed something, or rather someone. Andy was looking all devious and devilish. She gave us a wink and a wave and then walked out of the Great Hall. So, Remus and I went after her, and when we caught up with her, we asked her what the whole wink/wave thing was about. And she said, 'You take one, I take one'. We have no idea what that means but I know it can't be good." As soon as Alexa finished telling her story, Lily's jaw dropped and she inhaled sharply. "Lily, what's wrong?"

"I know exactly what that means and what she is planning," Lily said.

"Well, please, enlighten us," I said.

"When she said 'You take one, I take one' she was referring to me. You guys took me as your friend, so now she is going to take one of your friends, and I think I know who it is going to be."

"Well, as far as I'm concerned, I am more than happy to just give her Black; heck, I'll even throw in Peter," Alexa said in all seriousness. I quickly hit her in her arm. As Alexa rubbed her arm, I looked back at Lily.

"I know Andy, she is going to pick the person who is the most vulnerable and then turn them against you; and, right now, that person is Blair. You can bet that she will be hanging around Blair a lot more," Lily explained.

"So what do we do?" Alexa asked.

"You guys just need to keep Blair close and don't do anything that would make her question your friendship for even a moment. All Andy needs is one tiny moment of doubt," Lily told us.

"Man, I sometimes just want to bring the demons out of her," Alexa said. We all laughed a little bit. "So, what's the plan?" she asked looking at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Oh come on, I know you. I know you already have some brilliant plan, so spill," I am like a freaking open book with her.

"Well, I wouldn't call it brilliant. I just thought, maybe if we found out all the things that James likes about Lily and she did all of them the exact opposite, then maybe he would realize that she's not the girl for him."

"You're right, it's definitely not up to your usual standards," Alexa said sarcastically, I punched her yet again. "You didn't let me finish! I was going to say, that it's not up to your usual standards, it is way above your standards." She flashed me a smile.

"Nice save," I said smirking at her.

"So, can you tell us exactly how are we getting this information?" Lily asked me.

"Well, you're just going to ask him," I mumbled out.

Lily's eyes widened, "Mm, I'm sorry, we didn't catch that."

"You're just going to ask him," I said timidly, fearing the wrath of Lily.

Instead of shouting all Lily did was started laughing. I quickly looked to Alexa and Remus to see if they were making sense of all this. They too looked shocked. "That's funny, it sounded like you said that I was going to ask James what he liked about me," she said through her laughter. "But, really, how are you going to find out?"

I looked at Lily with a natural smile on my face, "You heard right, you're going to ask James."

"What?! Are you crazy? I am not going to just go up to some boy and ask him why he likes me, especially when his ex-girlfriend would kill me if she saw me talking to him!"

"Oh, come on Lily. First off, you said that you would do anything to help, and this is that way. Second, James isn't just some guy, it's James. And third, we will make sure Blair doesn't see you guys. So, please do it?" I pleaded.

Alexa quickly wrapped her arm around Lily and stuck out her bottom lip, "Pwetty pwease?"

Lily rolled her eyes, "Fine, fine, but if I get caught, I am going to blame it on you guys, I'm too young to die." I squealed in joy and ran over to join my sister in smothering Lily in hugs. "Now we just have to find a time when I can talk to James where Blair won't see."

"Well, James is up in our dorm now; you can just go talk to him in there; that way it will be easier to keep Blair away," Remus spoke up.

I thought about it for a few minutes. It really was a good idea. For one, Blair would most likely not being going up into the boy's dorm anytime soon and it would be easy enough to keep her away from there. "Alright then, it's settled. To the boy's dormitories!" Alexa shouted as she sped off toward the dormitory. Ladies and gentlemen, my sister, the spaz.

When we finally made it back to the common room, it was nearly empty. "Okay, Remus, you go on up to your dorm and figure out some way to guard the door. We will send Lily up in five minutes," I instructed.

"Yes dear," Remus replied jokingly as he kissed me on the cheek. I immediately blushed, my cheeks turning a deep pink hue. I looked over to Alexa who was laughing at me.

"Oh, sod off," I told her, but it only made her laugh harder. "Alright, Lily, in a few moments, you are going to go up in that dorm and get the information while we find Blair and keep her away."

"But what do I say?" Lily asked looking a little nervous. "I mean, I don't know how to be all sneaky and what not, I don't know if I can do this."

"Lils, calm down," I said putting my hands on her shoulders. "I know you can do this." She gave me a week smile.

"Yeah, she's right. If you can blackmail Remus and Lyla and turn your back on that devil ex-best friend of yours and still remain living, I'm pretty sure you can do anything," Alexa told Lily. Lily looked behind her at the stairs leading up to the boy's dorms. She turned and started walking hesitantly toward them. "May the ancestors protect you!" Alexa yelled to Lily, in what I assume was an attempt to encourage her. Lily turned to smile back at us and then disappeared up the stairs.

I looked to Alexa, "You are so weird," I stated plainly.

"What? You know you were thinking it," she said nudging me.

I couldn't help but laugh. "Can we just find Blair?" Alexa threw up her hands in surrender. I looked around the common room once more. Sitting in one of the chairs was Alice, a girl in our year. I quickly walked over to her. "Hey Alice."

"Oh, hey Lyla, Alexa," she replied looking up from her book. "Can I help you with something?"

"Yeah, we were wondering if you know where Blair is?" I asked.

"She's been up in your dorm for the last hour or so, crying and yelling," Alice told us.

Alexa and I both exchanged worried looks. "Thanks Alice," Alexa said as we turned to the stairs leading up to our dorm.

I pushed open the door to our dorm, but instead of finding Blair on her bed, we found a blanket of tissues. We walked over to her bed and pushed the tissues around to see if there was anything else on the bed. All of a sudden the door leading to the bathroom flew open and a surprisingly cheery Blair emerged. "Hey guys, where have you been?" she said.

I was a little caught off guard. I was expecting to find Blair either crying or yelling, but definitely not happy. "Mm, Blair, are you okay?" I asked. There had to be something going on.

Blair quickly walked over to her bed carrying a trash can. She slid all of the used tissues on her bed into the trash can. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why do you think something's wrong?" She asked flashing Alexa and me a smile.

Alexa took a seat on Blair's bed then said, "Well, I don't know, maybe because an hour ago you were balling your eyes out and you were threatening James."

"Well, ladies, you will be glad to hear that over the last hour or so, I have decided to be a lot more positive. It will benefit me and you guys," Blair said as she returned the trash receptacle to the bathroom.

Wow, that was really mature of her. "So you're not mad anymore? You don't want to kill anybody?" I asked.

Blair came quickly out of the bathroom and stood in front of us, "Oh, no, I'm still going to kill James."

Alexa looked at me with a confused expression, "And you call that being positive?"

"I'm going to kill him, but I'm going to be _positive_ about it. See?" Blair explained.

"You do know that make little to no sense?" Alexa asked eying Blair.

"Yeah, maybe, but I'm sticking to it. So, you two either hop on my positive train or keep your negativity away from me. What's it going to be?" Blair asked.

Alexa and I looked at each other and then simultaneously said, "Choo Choo."

Blair smiled at our sarcastic gesture. "Alright, now it's time to get down to business," she said as she started moving toward the door to leave.

"Wait, Blair, where are you going?" I asked moving to follow her.

"I'm going to find James so I can rip him a new one, duh."

A wave of panic ran through me. If she found James, she would find Lily in James' dorm. Well, crap. I looked back at Alexa who shared my concerned panicked look. "Umm, Blair, maybe you should wait till later to rip James a new one. You know, give it a few weeks or months; hell, even years. Good things come to those who wait," Alexa so wisely said.

"Are you like my own little personal fortune cookie now? I'm going to find James," Blair retorted.

"Blair, wait. Wait, Blair!" I yelled as Alexa and I ran out of our dorm to follow a hasty Blair. She quickly stopped once she entered the common room. She was looking back and forth scanning the room for James. "It doesn't look like he's in here, oh well. Hey, let's just go back up to our dorm and have a girl's night?" I suggested, praying she would say yes.

"Yeah, we can do makeovers again. I'll let you try anything you want on Lyla," Alexa said.

"Alex!" I said. If we were doing makeovers, she was going down with me.

"Both of you stop it! You guys are acting super weird tonight. I am going to find James, so just deal with it," Blair said raising her voice.

"But you don't even know where he is, so it's pointless," Alexa said.

"Look, I'll go check his dorm, and if he's not in there, then I will just wait till tomorrow. Deal?" she asked turning toward the boy's dorms. No deal! No deal! I screamed in my head. Blair took the steps two at a time as Alexa and I quickly followed. As we were going up the stairs, I peeked my head around Blair and saw Sirius standing in front of the door. "Get out of my way Sirius," Blair said forcefully.

"No can do Blair," Sirius said, just as forcefully, back.

"Come on, Black, you're being a tool," she said getting a little annoyed.

"Blair, clearly this child is not going to move, so let's just go," Alexa said, taking a free shot at Sirius.

"Black, I swear to you, if you don't move in the next few seconds, I will forcibly remove you. Your pick," Blair said, her eyes narrowing on Sirius.

Sirius let out a laugh. Probably not the best move. "No offense Blair, but I don't think that's possible."

Blair stood there for a moment and then she quickly extended her leg straight into Sirius's crotch. Sirius immediately fell to his knees and folded into the fetal position. Alexa and I immediately bent down to help Sirius and Blair stepped over him to continue up the stairs. "Sirius are you okay?" I asked.

"Bloody hell! She kneed me!" Sirius shrieked.

"You should just know, that I am trying really hard not to laugh right now," Alexa said as we helped Sirius up off the floor. He gave her a weak smile and leaned on Alexa as I ran ahead to try and catch Blair. I miraculously caught up with Blair, but it was much too late. As I approached her she swung open the door.

I stepped into the room after Blair and frantically looked for Lily, but I could see her red hair nowhere. I looked again and saw the other three Marauders sitting on their respective beds. Peter was flipping through pages of a book that was upside down, Remus was working on some school stuff, and James was staring off into the distance. I looked over to Remus and gave him a questioning look. He just smiled and quickly diverted his eyes back to his school work.

Blair stepped further into the dorm and said, "What are you three doing?"

"N-n-nothing. Absolutely nothing, I swear, I'm just reading, nothing else," Peter sputtered out. Ah, Peter, always the smooth operator.

"Whatever, I don't even care at this point. James, I need to talk to you, now," Blair demanded.

"Although that sounds fantastic, I actually have something I need to do first. Can we talk later?" James said scooting off his bed backing away from an approaching Blair.

"I bet this thing you have to do is with Evans. Am I right?" Blair asked.

Immediately, everyone in the room, including Alexa and Sirius who were now behind me yelled, "No!"

"Why would you think that?" I said.

"No, it's something for school," Remus said.

"Yeah, detention, again," James said shrugging his shoulders.

Blair looked really confused and suspicious. She kept looking back and forth between all of our faces, "All of you are acting really weird, weirder than usual. Okay, you go do whatever you have to do, but James, we are going to talk as soon as you get back. And if you try to avoid me, I will hunt you down." Blair turned and pushed past Alexa and Sirius to go down the stairs. "I'll be in our dorm when you guys are done in here," I heard her say as she went down the stairs.

I let out a huge sigh of relief and helped Sirius to the closest bed. "Where the hell is Lily?" I asked.

Remus smiled then said, "Lily, you can come out now."

I waited for Lily to emerge but she never revealed herself. "Lily? She's gone, you can come out now," I said, looking around the room to see if I could figure out where she was.

"I can't, I'm stuck," I heard Lily's muffled voice say. Her voice was coming out from under Sirius's bed. "Somebody help me! And hurry, I'm suffocating under here."

Laughter erupted throughout the room as Alexa and I rushed over to help Lily. I crouched down on the floor by Sirius's bed and looked under it. Lily was lying there scrunched between the floor and the bottom of his bed with what looked like a stuffed animal in her face. I couldn't help but laugh, the sight was just too funny. I grabbed the thing from her face and tossed it to the side then pulled Lily out from under the bed.

Once Lily was out, I reached for the object that was in front of her face. It turns out, that it was a stuffed animal, a teddy bear to be exact. Ha, Sirius has a teddy bear! He is such a girl. Alexa helped Lily off the floor and then we turned back to the Marauders. The three of us immediately looked to Sirius, with a smirk on all of our faces. "What are you lot on about? Why are you looking at me like that?" Sirius asked.

I brought the bear up from behind my back and said, "How come you never told us about your cute little friend here?" I asked sarcastically. Sirius ran over as best he could and snatched the bear out of my hands and we all laughed even harder.

"Where are your manners Sirius? Aren't you going to introduce us?" Alexa asked as we took a seat on Remus's bed.

"Why should I? You're just going to make fun of me some more," Sirius said picking of a piece of dust from his bear. Aww, he really loved that thing.

"Oh come on Sirius. We're sorry, we promise not to laugh anymore," I said knowing that that was an empty promise.

He looked down at his bear for a few minutes and then mumbled, "His name is Captain Awesome."

I looked over at Alexa, who like myself, was trying to hold back our laughter. She picked up two pillows and turned back to me, "Pillow, dear sister?" I nodded my head, took the pillow, and then both of us started laughing hysterically into the pillows.

A disgusted look spread across Sirius's face, "No fair! You guys said you wouldn't laugh anymore!"

"Well, we lied," Alexa said through her laughter. Both of us were near tears.

"Oh, it's okay Padfoot, I'm sure they'll forget about at some point," James said trying to comfort Sirius. Alexa and I both shook our heads furiously. I could assure them that we would never forget this. We most likely would be laughing about this till we died, because that's just who we are.

Sirius delicately set Captain Awesome on his bed then rushed over to Alexa and me and grabbed our arms. "Okay, you two have to get out," Sirius said as he pushed us out the door. Lily quickly followed and slipped past Sirius to join us on the stairs.

"Bye, Captain Awesome!" Alexa yelled as Sirius slammed the door in our faces.

After laughing for a few more moments on the stairs Lily said, "So, Alex, are you going to tell everybody about Sirius's bear?"

"Lily, come now, you very well know that that would be highly irresponsible," Alexa said almost like she was offended.

"You're worried about being irresponsible?" Lily asked confused.

"Well, yeah. I'm not going to tell anybody. That is, until I need something, then I'm going to exploit it," Alexa said with a devious grin.

Ah, how I love Saturdays. Saturdays are one of the only days that I get to sleep in and overall they are very lazy day. I love just laying bed, slipping in and out of my dreams, and never finding the will to get out of bed. This particular morning, I was dreaming about the days when my life was actually normal. Who am I kidding, my life was never normal, but that's really neither here nor there. So there I was dreaming of normality, when I heard the deafening loudness of the bathroom door being slammed shut. I quickly put this disturbance out of my mind and squeezed my eyes tighter.

A few minutes later I heard the bathroom door fly open and then footsteps running toward me. "It snowed! It snowed!" someone said, jumping on my bed. This was clearly the work of Alexa. "Wake up, Lyls! It's snowing!" I struggled to keep my eyelids shut as Alexa was trying to pry them open. I eventually lost and now my lovely sister was doing everything in her power to get me out of bed.

"Alexa, it's just snow. It snows all the time, every year. Why do you feel the need to drag me out of bed for this?" I asked rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

"Lyla, it's the first snow of the year; and you very well know that on the day of the first snow, you, Blair, and I take a walk. It's tradition, and I'm not one for breaking them. So, get up, get dressed, and get your arse down to the common room; Blair and I will be waiting." Alexa hopped off my bed and skipped to the door. "Oh, and if you're not down there in ten minutes, we both are coming up here and physically dragging you down there, so I would advise you to hop to it," she smiled and then walked out.

I quickly got out of bed and threw on my warmest clothes. Now that I was up, and I had left my dreams completely, I was more excited about the walk and the rest of the day. I couldn't lie, I did like snow. It would also be nice to just hang out with Alexa and Blair and just leave all our troubles behind and embrace the wonderful snow.

When I entered into the common room, I saw Blair and Alexa sitting on a nearby couch. Blair kept going to play with Alexa's hair and Alex kept swatting her hand away. "Stop it," Alexa said, swatting at Blair's hand.

"Just let me braid it; then I will leave it alone," Blair bargained.

"No! I'm not going to let you braid or even touch my hair," Alexa said, increasingly getting more annoyed.

"One little braid, and then I shall never ask again," Blair said reaching out to grasp Alexa's hair.

After a forceful hit Alexa said, "If you don't stop annoying me, I am going to shave of all your hair in your sleep."

Blair just smiled, "I'll still be the pretty one."

"You are impossible, do you know that? Lyla better—oh Lyla, you're here now we can leave," Alexa said realizing I was standing there. She and Blair hopped off the couch and immediately headed for the portrait hole. When we were out in the corridor heading for outside, Alexa said, "Lyla, please tell Blair to stop trying to touch my hair."

"Well, will you tell Alexa to just let me braid her hair once and then I will never ask again," Blair retorted.

I swear, sometimes I feel like I am their mother, "If you two don't stop fighting, we will all go straight back to our dorm and we won't go outside in the snow at all. Is that what you want?" I asked. They both shook their heads looking ashamed. "Okay, Blair, stop asking to touch her hair. And Alexa, you are going to let Blair braid your hair tonight, no discussion." They both just kind of nodded their heads. "Alright, now, let's go outside and enjoy the first snow with our very best friends." Saying this brought huge bright smiles to their faces. We all linked arms and hurried through corridors to play in the snow.

The grounds of Hogwarts were absolutely beautiful when they were covered in a blanket of snow. All around there were groups of people making snowmen, snow angels, and frolicking in this winter wonderland.

"Okay girls, are you ready?" Alexa asked as we stood in one of the many courtyards. As we walked through the courtyard, I saw out of the corner of my eye the Marauders. They were all working meticulously on what looked like snow forts, which I must admit, looked pretty impressive. Peter's fort was pretty pitiful, Sirius and James' were very well built, but it was Remus' that really caught my eye. His was at least three feet taller than the others and looked like a medieval castle, with a drawbridge and everything. I tell you, when the Marauders do something they do it right.

"Hey, there's Caradoc," Alexa said excitedly, "Can we hold up just for a minute?"

Blair and I just kind of shrugged our shoulders as Caradoc ran over to meet us. "Hey guys," he said.

"Hey, Caradoc," Blair and I responded.

"Hi, Alex," he said pecking Alexa on the cheek. "Where are you three getting off to today?" he asked.

"Well, we have this thing that we do every year on the first snow," Alexa started explaining. "On the day of the first snow we usually—."

"OW!" Blair screamed cutting off Alexa.

I turned to Blair to see what she was yelling about. Blair's head and back were covered in snow and she was rubbing her head. "What happened?" I asked brushing the snow off her back.

"Someone just hit me with a bloody snowball!" she said looking around to see who the culprit was. When I turned around, I saw the Marauders looking over toward us, all of them holding snowballs except James. I quickly looked over to Blair who was seething in anger. "He's dead!" she exclaimed before she took off at a sprint toward James. Alexa, Caradoc, and I took after her to try and stop her.

Before we could catch her, Blair reached James and tackled him to the ground, and let me tell you, it looked like it hurt like hell. Once James realized what just happened, he swiftly tried to crawl away. Just when he thought he was in the clear, Blair caught up with him and was trying to pull him back toward her. "Potter, don't you dare run away from me!" Blair yelled.

"But I'm too young to die!" James yelled back.

Alexa and I ran to his aid. We grabbed Blair by her arms and pulled her off a quivering James. "Let me at him!" Blair said trying to break free of our hold.

Sirius and Remus came over to help James up. When he was on his feet he looked a little discombobulated. "Did you see that?" James asked in amazement, looking at his two friends. "She was so fast, like a jet plane."

"Yeah, I was going to say that," Sirius added, also sounding a little shocked.

After Blair had calmed down a bit and we had let go of her, she said, "Potter, what the hell is your problem?"

"Um, well, we were having a snowball fight and I threw one at Moony, but he moved and it hit you instead. I honestly did not mean to hit you, and I am genuinely sorry, just don't hurt me," James rattled off. Blair just stood there for a moment and then violently lunged at James. Alexa and I luckily caught her and restrained her. By this time, a group of people had congregated around us, Lily being one of them.

Sirius stepped in between James and Blair and said, "I have the solution. We will settle a dispute like this, as it has been settled for centuries. A war that will be fought to the death. The weapon of choice: balls of snow. Four teams of two, no rules." Blair settled down again and shook her head. A smirk spread across Sirius's face, "Alright, let's pick teams."

James spoke first, "I'll take Alexa on my team."

Blair's eyes widened, "Um, I don't think so."

"Okay, fine, I'll take Lyla," James responded.

"No! They are _my _friends, so they can't be on your team," Blair spat back.

"Well, then, tell me all mighty Blair, who am I allowed to have on my team?" James asked.

Before Blair could say anything back, Sirius cut in looking really annoyed, "Oh my God, shut up! I'm just going to do it for you. I'll be with Lyla," I'm not going to lie, that kind of shocked me, "Blair, you be with Peter."

"You have got to be kidding me," Blair mumbled under her breath, I couldn't help but smile.

"Alexa and Remus can be together. Then that leaves Prongs, who can you be with?" Sirius asked himself looking around. When his eyes landed on Caradoc, they narrowed, "Caradoc. James and Caradoc will be on a team together."

"I will not be on a team with him," James protested.

"What's wrong Potter? Are you intimidated by me?" Caradoc asked.

"I can't work with him," James said throwing his arms up in the air.

"Whatever, you two are on a team deal with it. Let's break off in a strategy session and then reconvene in a few minutes. Break!" Sirius yelled. The teams immediately dispersed to various spots in the courtyard. Sirius sauntered over to me and looked me straight in the eye. "Lyla, I'm going to level with you, do you know why I picked you?" I shook my head in all honesty. "You know, most people see you as this timid good girl, but Sirius knows better. Sirius knows that deep down, you are a ruthless animal waiting to break free; and let me tell you kid, this is your chance to release the beast." Mm, this was a bit weird. Why is he referring to himself in third person? "And Sirius can tell that you are not one to lose."

I quickly jumped in, "I hate losing, I really do. So I agree with you there, we are not going to lose."

Sirius's eyes widened, "Now that is exactly the kind of cut throat attitude Sirius likes."

"Okay, stop referring to yourself in third person, it is really annoying," I told him honestly.

"Alright, I can do that. But, getting down to business, we need a strategy. Do you have any ideas?" he asked.

Why is he asking me? I have no idea. "Mm, don't lose?" I offered.

Sirius just sat there for a moment, "Yeah, that's brilliant! I knew your smarts would come in handy." Sirius turned in circles to locate the other teams. "Teams, assemble!" he shouted. The other three teams quickly came over to where we were, as a group of people congregated around us again to watch the show. "Let's do this. Teams, to your respective corners," the four teams headed off to four random spots and anxiously waited for the war to begin. "Three… two… one!" Sirius shouted as loud as he could.

Almost instantly, all eight of us dropped to the ground to start making snow balls. I frantically grabbed huge chunks of snow and carefully molded them into spheres. As I stacked each snowball in a pile, Sirius turned to me, with numerous snow balls cradled in his arms. "I'm going in; if I don't make it back alive, carry on and stay strong. But, whatever you do, don't mourn me, just move on and win. Stay sweet," and with those inspirational words, Sirius was off to the battle field. As he stepped cautiously, he analyzed every inch of the courtyard, looking for possible attackers.

As he stealthily roamed the field, he spun around instantly and saw James sneaking toward him. The two boys instantly threw snowballs at each other, and by some miracle they dodged every single one of them. Once Sirius exhausted his supply of snowballs, he rushed back over to where I was diligently making more. "It is crazy out there! I almost didn't make it back. I definitely think that the only people we are going to need to worry about are James and Caradoc," Sirius told me. "Okay, you take half of these," he said signaling to my pile of snowballs, "and I want you to go and eliminate your sister and your boyfriend, do you think you can handle that?" he asked.

"Well, of course I can do it, but it's my boyfriend and my sister, can't you just take them?" I asked trying to get out of my compromising mission.

Sirius looked shocked, "Lyla! You want to win don't you?" he asked me, I nodded my head. "Alright, good, I thought I had lost you there. But, look, if you want to win, you are going to have to dig deep and kill them."

"Sirius, we're not really killing them," I said trying to bring some realism back to Sirius.

"Lyla, losing this war is nearly equal to killing them. So, I ask again, can you do it?"

I thought about it for a minute. I really did want to win, and this was all just for fun anyway. It's not like it's that big of a deal, I mean, that's the whole point of this game, right? "Yeah, I can do it," I replied confidently.

A smile spread across Sirius's face, "Brilliant, come back here once the deed is done. I'm going to get Blair and Peter, yell if you need back up."

I scooped up my snowballs in my arms and trying to be as secretive as possible, I made my way over to Remus and Alexa's fort. As I quietly crept up to their fort I could hear the two of them conversing. "Okay, you stay here and make some more snowballs, I am going to go get Peter," Remus said. I heard the snow crunch below Remus's feet, so I quickly hid behind one of his monstrous snow walls. A couple minutes later, I looked toward Peter and Blair's fort and saw that Remus was on his way over there. He started throwing his snowballs at Blair. I knew this was my chance.

I carefully took one step then another. The snow crunching below my feet seemed so loud. As I took another step, Alexa said, "Remus? Is that you?" Crap, she heard me. It was now or never, I told myself. I quickly maneuvered myself around to the other side of the wall. Before I realized it, the snowball that I had been holding, was no longer in my hand, but on Alexa's face. "Lyla?! I thought we had a truce!" Alexa said wiping the snow off her face.

"We never said anything about a truce," I protested.

"Well, words were never actually exchanged, but I thought it was just one of those things that didn't need to be said," she said sounding a little offended.

"Oh, well, I'm sorry, I didn't realize," I said, feeling a wee bit bad.

"That's okay, we just won't say anything about this incident," she said with a little smile.

"Um, Alexa, you're still totally out," I told her truthfully.

"What? You just said you were sorry, though," Alexa said confused.

"I'm sorry that I didn't understand the whole unspoken truce thing, but I still got you out. Don't be mad, Sirius told me to," I said, chickening out a little.

Alexa shrugged her shoulders, "It's whatever, I still love you. So, did Sirius tell you to get Remus as well?" I nodded my head. "I'll totally help you."

"Alexa, he's on your team!" I said.

"Yeah, I know. But you were my sister first, and I'll be able to say I got at least one person out," I couldn't help but laugh at my dear sister. "Hide behind that wall there and I'll get him over here," she told me. I quickly ducked behind the wall like I was instructed. "Remus! Come back!" Alexa shouted.

I peeked around the wall and saw Remus coming toward us. "Great success," he said. "I got Blair, Sirius got Peter, and I nearly had James; I was so close. Do you have anymore snowballs?" he asked.

Alexa looked around and I could tell that she really couldn't think of what to do next. "Uh, yeah," she said. Then Alexa, just unexpectedly pushed Remus to the ground and pinned him down.

"Um, Alexa, what are you doing?" Remus asked a little surprised. I knew this was my cue. I came out from behind the wall, with a single snowball in my hand. I looked at Remus with an angelic smile. "Lyla, what are you doing?" he asked looking back and forth between me and my sister.

"Sorry, but it has to be done," I said, and then threw the snowball.

After the ball of snow exploded on Remus's body, he looked to me, "I can't believe you did that. You do know, that now, you must pay." I smiled, and before I knew it, I was pulled to the ground next to Remus.

Alexa burst out laughing and I joined in as well. "Okay, so are we even now?" I asked through my laughter.

He leaned over to me and kissed me, "Now we're even." I blushed a little.

Remus laughed a little at my reddening cheeks and then turned to Alexa who was sitting next to us. "And you! How could you sell out your own partner?" he asked.

"Well, she already got me, so I figured why not? It's not like we were going to win anyway," Alexa said.

"Alright, I better get back to Sirius, he will probably be wondering where I am. See you guys later!" I said as I got up and quickly headed back to our fort. When I got back, Sirius was already there, and he was furiously making snowballs.

"Is it done?" he asked, looking up for only a moment.

"Yes, it is done," I responded. I knelt on the ground next to Sirius and helped him make more snowballs.

"Perfect. You do realize what this means, don't you?" he asked. I shook my head. His eyes narrowed, "To win, we only have to eliminate James and Caradoc. And although it will not be an easy task, I truly believe that we can do it. Now, are you with me?"

I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Yeah."

Sirius's eyes widened, "Yeah? Yeah?! You don't sound like you want it!"

Startled by his yelling, I quickly responded, "Yes, Sirius, I'm with you!"

"Good. You can't wimp out on me now, not when we're so close. Now, this is how it is going to go. I will take out Caradoc and you take out James. I will of course come and help you as soon as I get Caradoc, just do not get hit," he said gripping my shoulders. "Ready?" he asked. I gave a quick nod and then we both picked up our ammo. "Okay, go… now!" he yelled.

We both quickly emerged from behind our snow fort and zeroed in on James and Caradoc on the other side of the courtyard. Sirius tore off toward Caradoc with a barbaric yawp. As Sirius approached, Caradoc pulled his arm back to prepare for fire. He released the snowball from his hand, but luckily, Sirius dove in the other direction, releasing a snowball of his own. Sirius hit the ground almost at the exact same time his snowball came in contact with Caradoc. It actually looked like we were going to win!

I looked back over to where James had been, but he was no longer there. He was now making his way over to where Sirius was still lying. James took one of the many snowballs in his arms, and forcefully threw it down at Sirius. "NO!" Sirius yelled, as it hit him square in the chest. Correction, it looked like we were going to lose. There was no way I was going to beat James, chaser and captain of the quidditch team. To be frank, I was toast.

James suddenly turned and looked at me. I stood there frozen and he started running toward me. As James ran toward me, he carried a snowball ready to be fired. When he got relatively close, I took one of my snowballs, got scared, threw it without aiming, and then dropped to the ground, covering my eyes to shield them from the snow that was about to hit me.

I sat there for a few minutes, my head still buried in my arms. I listened for James' foot steps approaching, but I heard nothing, not even a whisper; it was virtually silent. I bravely opened one of my eyes to see what was going on. There standing in front of me, was James, with the remnants of a fresh snowball still on his jacket. I sat up and looked at James who was looking back at me very very confused and surprised. Had I hit him?

Sirius came running over and tackled me to the ground, holding me in a hug. "Lyla! That was brilliant! I don't even know how that happened. He was there, you were here, then he was hit, and you were on the ground," he rambled on not making much sense. "We won!" he said hugging me tighter. By now, all the people watching had gathered around us. "I'm so happy, I could just kiss you right now! But I wont' because Moony would kill me."

"Damn straight, I would," Remus said and he pushed his way through the crowd to where we were. He pulled Sirius off me and then helped me up. "I am very proud of you," he said with a smile. I returned the smile, and then was grabbed by Blair and Alexa.

"That was brilliant!" Alexa exclaimed.

"I am honored to be your friend!" Blair said hugging me tighter.

I patted them both as they hugged me and then slipped out of their grasps. I smoothly maneuvered my way through the crowd and found James still in the same spot as he had been before. He looked up at me, looking a little defeated. I walked up to him and we both stood there in silence for a few minutes. "James?" I asked.

An unexpected smile spread across James' face and then he pulled me into a hug. "You were great. If I was going to lose to anybody, I'm glad it was you," James said, releasing me from his embrace.

"Thanks James," I said gratefully.

He slung his arm around me and we turned to find the rest of the Marauders, Alexa, Blair, and Lily standing in front of us, as the crowd was dispersing. Lily stepped a little closer and said, "Great job, Lyla." I gave her an appreciative smile.

Blair let out a huge huff, and turned to stalk off back toward the school. Then I noticed, as Blair approached the school, she was being followed; by none other that Andy Ablo. That little devil! There was no way that this could turn out good.

As soon as we got back to the common room, I immediately rushed over to the nearest couch, knowing that I wasn't going to be able to make it up the stairs to my dorm. Alexa quickly followed and took up residence on the chair beside me. I flopped my body onto the couch taking up all the room. Remus came over, picked up my feet and slid under them; the other Marauders found various spots to sit down. We probably should have gone up to see if Blair was okay, but I was just so weak, and she could most likely use some time to be alone.

"Sweet Merlin, I'm tired!" Alexa exclaimed weakly.

"I know, kicking ass really does exhaust a person," I said.

"I know that's right," Sirius added.

I smiled at my teammate, but my smile was quickly wiped off after the pillow Alexa threw at me hit me square in the face. "Ow! What was that for?" I asked rubbing my face.

"No one likes a gloater," she replied.

"Yes, but everyone loves a winner," Sirius so cleverly retorted. Alexa threw him a dirty look. "Touché."

"You can't touché yourself," Alexa said.

Sirius shrugged his shoulders, "Your bad."

"You can't 'my bad' somebody else!" Alexa exclaimed, looking very annoyed. Sirius went to say something else, but was cut off, "Shut up, I will slap you." Sirius's mouth immediately snapped shut.

As we all sat there laughing, I noticed out of the corner of my eye, that someone else had quietly joined our group. I craned my neck to the side to see Andy Ablo standing near by. I quickly sat up and looked over to where she was standing. The others sitting around me after a few moments did the same. I noticed that when Remus saw her he tensed up.

"Do you guys mind if I talk to Lyla and Alexa for a few moments?" she asked with a devilish smile on her face.

The Marauders all looked at each other, and almost simultaneously got up from the spots they were sitting in. James, Sirius and Peter hurried along to their dorm; and Remus followed after he kissed me on the cheek. As he walked away, he looked back at us and Andy Ablo gave him a little smile. Slut.

As soon as Remus was out of sight, Andy came and sat in a chair that was across from Alexa and me. "Well, aren't you two just precious. Too bad he doesn't actually like you; it's just a shame," Andy Ablo said. I could have sworn I saw a horn accidentally peek out from under her curls.

"What do you want Andy Ablo?" Alexa asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Ouch, why so icy, Alex?" Andy asked acting like she was hurt.

"Just, what do you want?" I asked.

"Well, I just wanted to let you know that I will win, and I will get you back for taking Lily and Remus away from me."

Alexa and I both looked at each other. "First off, we didn't take Lily away from you, she came on her own. So, don't blame us because you only had one friend and even she left you. And second, Remus also came of his own accord. He is madly in love with my sister, and there is nothing you can do about it. Oh, and as for you winning; I highly doubt that," Alexa firmly stated.

"We'll just see about that. I am extremely confidant in the fact that I bet I can get Blair on my side within a week. She will come crawling to me and finally see you two for what you truly are; two terrible friends. And after I tell the whole school, what nasty people you are, Lily and Remus will come crawling back as well, and you will be all alone," she said, getting up from her chair. "But, hey, on the up side, you two will always have each other." She started walking away, but turned to say one last thing, "Great chat," she said with a cheery smile.

When she was completely out of sight, Alexa turned to me, "Well, she's the devil." I gave her a smile. "So what are we going to do?" she asked, looking hopefully at me.

My mind was racing with so many things, that I couldn't even think straight. "I'm too tired to think right now, let's just go to bed and talk about it tomorrow. Is that okay?" I asked.

"That is perfectly fine by me," she said as we stood up. She slung her arm around me and we silently went up to our dorm, falling asleep almost instantly.

* * *

BabyBlue's Note to you: Well, I take all the blame for not having this chapter up sooner. My laptop has completely shut down and I have had to result to using the old, decrepit downstairs computer. Shiver. Anyways, thanks for all the lovely people who read and those few that review! We love you all and hope that you enjoy each and every chapter. And know that you are appreciated too! Don't forget to review!

Your favorite co-authors!


	13. All's Well That Ends Well

Disclaimer: I want to own, Amulet Girl wants to own. But sadly, we do not own it. So who does own it? Well, that would be J.K. Rowling who doesn't look, sound, or live like us. She owns it.

Baby Blue's Note of Importance: I won't lie to you and tell you that I've had a lot going on, because it's been kind of light here until this past week. But I did start working again (whoop! Cash flow!) and this week was the last one before spring break. But, this chapter is the longest yet so WORSHIP ME!!!! Ha-ha. No, but really, sorry and I hope you enjoy it because I did enjoy writing for you guys!

P.S. I'm totally better than Amulet Girl, don't listen to a word she says! She's crazy! Plus, she doesn't shell out 11,000+ word chapters, does she? (jk jk liz!)

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Chapter 13: All's Well That Ends Well

Alexa's Point of View

Lazy days come once in a blue moon, and I mean that almost literally. The days where everything is calm, you finish all of your three thousand essays, and it's nice and cozy in the common room while the fire crackles and it snows outside. Those are the days that everything just seems right in the world. And it was a day that I planned on enjoying.

As I sat in the gold lounge chair, curled up with my comforter from my dorm and the intent to sleep or just people watch until someone forcibly removed me, I sighed contentedly. This, of course, lasted for almost less than a second as Blair came stalking into my line of vision. The look of 'I'm going to claim my next victim' had me cowering under my blanket. For real; though I believe she spotted me as I heard the footsteps creeping closer to my chair.

"Hiding from your best friend is unbecoming, Alex, and it might lead to the conclusion that you aren't really said friend's friend." I peeked my head from my protective fortress in confusion. Friend's, friends, friend? What? As my head spun, Blair ripped my covers away and threw them on the couch next to my chair. Then, plopping her bony butt down on top of them, she covered her eyes Southern belle style and sighed.

Cursing my need to help and wanting all the while to leave before she dragged me into one of her 'Let's do something that's borderline hysteric and not at all safe while I try to forget about James without really forgetting about him' plans, I sat next to her feet, trying to snuggle back under the blanket. "What's wrong today, Blair; please tell me that you haven't been trying to booby-trap the boys' dorm again?" Yeah, that was yesterday and I still had a bruise in the middle of my back where the 'kicker' got me instead.

Pouting, Blair looked at me and frowned like a little girl. "It was a good plan! You and Lyla got in the way during the set-up and that's the only reason why it backfired!" Rolling my eyes, I held up my hands in surrender while I gave up on my blanket quest. Folding my legs underneath me, I gestured for her to continue which she so graciously did. "And I'm so bored. I have nothing to do and _everyone_ is completely ignoring me. Plus, I feel fat and I need to get some exercise but it's freaking snowing outside. Again. Why can't it just be summer again,"

She trailed off and I let her babble on while my gaze caught with someone across the room. The frustrated gray eyes of my own worst enemy were staring blankly back at me and I blinked a couple of times to see if he was really paying attention or just zoning out. His long dark lashes blinked slowly at me and then fluttered as his eyes shut completely and his head fell against the chair. I waited for him to move in some way or breathe, but when he didn't my heart began to pump faster.

Was he dead? Freaking out, I jumped from my spot on the couch, startling Blair and forgetting completely about the fact that my legs were tucked under the extra part of a blanket. I tripped but quickly regained my composure as I leapt over to where Sirius was. My hands fluttered over him as I hesitated to take some initiative as to what to do.

"Alexa, what the hell are you doing?" Blair said, getting up to follow me over to Sirius.

"I don't know, he's not breathing! I think he might be," I trailed off as his hand snatched my arm and his eyes opened quickly. "Holy Jesus!" I screamed as he shook and then his eyes went blurry.

"What---what are you doing, Alexa?" He asked in a rather pissed off voice. I looked at him in astonishment and then to Blair who was cracking up. "Here I am, trying to get some freaking sleep and you're screeching like a banshee and hovering over me like you're going to kill me. That's what this was, wasn't it? You were trying to kill me in my sleep." He stated while crossing his arms and blowing his disheveled hair out of his face. He looked rather comical while lying on the couch and berating me for caring that I almost forgot to be angry. Almost.

"For your information, Black, I didn't even think about killing you. I thought you _had_ _died_ because…because for some ungodly reason, you sleep without breathing for the longest times." Sirius laughed at me and then sat up quickly, forcing me to jump back before his head collided and gave me a concussion. "And why do you wake up like that? Were you born to give people heart attacks?"

Blair's laughter rang out clearly now as she settled onto the arm of the couch next to Sirius and bent over. "You should have seen him when I was up there one night. Remus threw a book at him because the poor lummox snores terribly and he caught the book and threw it back before he just opened his eyes and sat up. We all thought the devil had repossessed his earthly body." I tried not to laugh, but failed as Sirius just smirked and rolled his eyes. Sitting on the coffee table next to the couch, I stared at Sirius until he caught me looking.

"This by no means makes us friends again; I was only worried that you were dead because I didn't know how to explain that I wasn't the one who killed you to all your screaming, gaggling fan-girls." Once again with a roll of his eyes, Sirius laid his head back down, not caring that he landed in Blair's lap. Covering his eyes and mouth with her hands, Blair acted like she was going to spit on him before she took her hands off him.

"Step off, Sirius, before I have to send you to your dorm." She said with a motherly intonation and I crossed my arms when he listened to her. Why did he always have to make a big deal out of it when I asked him to keep his hands to himself? We all sat silently for a minute or two before Sirius summoned _my_ blanket and draped it over him as he went back to sleep. Huffing, I pushed his feet off the couch and yanked at the blanket.

"We can always share, Alexa, you don't have to get your knickers in a twist," I eyed him warily before he gave me an innocent look. "I promise not to do anything that you don't want me to do." His choice of words bothered me, but trusting that he would stick to that and honor the fact that I had a boyfriend, I sat down at the edge of the couch and crossed my legs under me. Blair looked at me sharply and mouthed _be nice _before sliding down on the couch to smoosh Sirius in between us.

Satisfied that he had made some progress, Sirius turned to look at Blair who was sitting deep in thought. "So what are you two doing down here anyways?"

I opened my mouth to speak when Blair cut me off. "_Well_, I was looking for my friends who, as Alexa can show you, were hiding from me. I am so freaking bored and no one seems to want to be around me anymore." With a sad look, Blair looked away and I felt really, really bad. Sitting back up, Sirius put his arm around Blair and pulled her into a one armed hug.

"I'll hang out with you if stop trying to kill the sixth year dorms," He said with a sly smile. My eyes, as well as Blair's, went wide and he laughed outright at our shocked expressions. "It was kind of obvious when Ally here screamed 'son of a monkey, that hurt!'" He sent his voice into a false soprano and I hit him with the pillow sitting next to me.

"I do _not _sound that girly. And don't call me Ally. My name is A-L-E-X-A." I annunciated each letter as he looked at me in mock confusion and Blair pouted about no one paying attention to her, but she was trying desperately hard to keep her pout in place. I would know, I'm her best friend. Sirius opened his mouth to say something, and knowing what his plan was before he started to speak, I cut him off. "Lexi is not an appropriate name either."

Still acting perplexed, Sirius sat with his hands folded above the blanket and watched the fire in front of us. I looked out the window where the snow was continuing to fall and sighed deeply. Maybe if all remained silent I could still catch a few winks of sleep before dinner time. I leaned my head back on the couch and closed my eyes, ignoring the feeling of Sirius' leg touching mine as we sat together on the couch. I had the strange urge to get closer, but then remembered that the only reason he was this close was because Blair was on the couch with us.

It was silent for a minute or two more before Blair smacked Sirius loudly on the leg and his burst of profanity shook me out of my daze. "I have just had the most amazing idea! And I can only blame your laziness in making me wait this long to have it." Blair shrieked as she jumped from the couch, snatching the blanket and banishing it up to my dorm. I groaned as the frigid air hit my exposed lower legs and regretted not changing out of my uniform.

Sirius still muttered violently as he rubbed his knee from where Blair had struck him. Ignoring the whining boy, I turned my attention back to Blair who was excitedly waiting for our attention. "Well, out with it then. You had to have had a good reason to hit Sirius, since you rarely ever strike anyone," I spoke sarcastically whilst thinking about the past few weeks. Since she and James had decided to 'take a break/break-up' she had been one of the most violent people I knew. Sure, she could be violent before, but now it was just taking it to a whole new level. No wonder some of the younger girls steered clear. And come to think of it, the younger and older boys as well.

Faking a woe-is-me sigh, she stood commandingly in front of us. "We are going to the Room of Requirement for some rigorous exercise," I laughed and Sirius raised is eyebrow while looking at her skeptically. "What? Alex, you're always saying that you need to work out more. Just the other day you were winded from walking from Potions to the Common Room."

"First of all, that wasn't a walk. We were avoiding James and you practically galloped all the way here. Up about twelve flights of stairs, I might add."

"Beside the point, Alexa. Sirius, what do you say? It's too cold for Quidditch today and you've got to keep those muscles from getting flabby, right?" She looked at him then, her eyes beaming the thought into his brain if that sort of thing were possible. Sirius contemplated the question as if it held all the weight in the world before shrugging non-committaly.

"I'm game, but only if Alexa decides to join us." He winked at me knowingly, already understanding that if I didn't do this for Blair she was going to torch my hair when I was asleep. Cursing Sirius into oblivion, I thought about how much I like my hair; and then about how much I wanted to help Blair out of her current situation. And by god, if exercising would help her out than I'd sacrifice my lazy day for getting fit.

"Fine. But I get to stop whenever I feel like I'm going to die."

Blair squealed happily, grabbing my hand and yanking me none to gently off the couch. "No, you don't, but if letting you think that makes you happy, I'll play along. Now, Sirius, go change and get ready for some cardio. Also, please meet us back down here in ten minutes." With that she pulled me away while Sirius sat immobile on the couch. I think the poor boy had gone into shock. "This is going to be so much fun!" Blair said as she flounced up the stairs, her ponytail bobbing along merrily behind her.

"Uh, Blair," I said when we entered the door and she began to search around in her trunk for some clothes. I went over to my own wardrobe and pulled out a mundane gray t-shirt and some red shorts. Pulling out a sports bra, I shut my curtains and continued to talk as I changed. "Listen, I don't want you to get mad, but if you keep avoiding James it's only going to make it worse for you when you see him again."

The sounds of Blair changing went silent and when I opened my curtains I saw her sitting on her bed cross-legged, already changed and her hair falling around her elbows. "I know," She whispered and I sat down next to her so she could lean against me. "Believe me, Alex, I know. It's just too hard for me to see him right now. Especially when I know that if I see him, he might be following Lily around. Like he used to before."

After saying this, a few tears leaked from her closed eyes and I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from pressing the matter of James and Lily being together. I wanted so badly to tell Blair that Lily didn't want to do anything but help James get back together with Blair. However, I wasn't sure if this was the case or not, so I kept my mouth shut and let Blair gather herself. When she had, I reached down to tug on some socks and grab my sneakers. "So, ready to go kick my butt?" I asked her in the most upbeat voice that I could manage. She smiled evilly and bounded off the bed to grab her own sneakers from under the bed.

"I'm ready to show you that you can hurt in places you didn't even know was manageable." I grimaced as she led us downstairs to find Sirius already at the bottom waiting for us. He was dressed similarly to both of us, with a black t-shirt that was just tight enough to show his muscles and some loose fitting blue shorts. The long kind, not those weirdly short ones that muggle basketball teams wear. "Okay team, let's go."

Blair took off at a fast pace out of the Gryffindor common room and into the corridors, with Sirius and I trailing behind her by about two feet. We hadn't even started going yet and I was already ready to go crawl to my bed and sleep until dinner. "Alexa," Sirius whispered to me as he looked straight ahead so Blair wouldn't suspect that we were talking. I turned my head slightly towards him to allow him to know he had my attention. Surprisingly, since he had called me by my first name, I was interested to hear what he had to say.

"I think we should call a truce in this Cold War if we are going to survive what Blair has in store for us." At my skeptical look, he rolled his eyes and continued while his voice dropped a few notches when Blair seemed to drop back a little. "I've seen James when he comes back from exercising with her; it's more like a torture session of obstacle courses and weird stretches that he said made him feel like a pretzel." I laughed a little while imagining James trying to attempt yoga. Then I sobered as I realized James and I weren't currently speaking.

"Okay, what would this truce entail exactly?" I questioned while picking up the pace and dodging a few Slytherin boys that were coming our way. They were young, around second year, but they still looked a little evil. Sirius glared at one in question, and I realized with a start that it was his brother, Regulus. That meant that the boys had to have been around third or fourth year. Snapping (literally) Sirius back to attention, I sent him a look to tell him to continue. Blair was now way ahead of us, only her high ponytail in view, and she didn't look like she was going to stop for anyone. Rolling my eyes, I figured we could catch up and I slowed to a halt to let Sirius explain his plan.

"I just want us to be friendly, Alexa. I'm not asking for a date; I'm not asking for you to go out of your way. I'm just asking you to be my friend again." While I continued to look at him unwaveringly, he smiled winningly and then the rims of his ears turned red. "If it makes any difference, I didn't mean to walk in on you getting out of the shower. But once I looked, I couldn't pull away."

Letting out a half-enraged half-who-am-I-to-care sound, I punched him lightly on the arm and started walking again. There was only one flight of stairs left until our destination and I would be damned if I let him see that he had made me blush. Sirius raced to catch up and then put his arm around my shoulders as we walked. Figuring it wouldn't hurt anyone and would be an okay thing for a friend to do, I let his arm stay there as we walked.

"Fine, Mr. Smooth Talker. But only on the condition that you never bring that little incident up again in front of anyone that I know or could possibly get to know, understand?" Sirius crossed his heart with the hand that wasn't hanging loosely off my left shoulder.

"We have a deal, Ms. Priss."

I rolled my eyes at the nickname and then blushed as we came upon Blair who was holding open a door that was already set up for exercise. She narrowed her eyes at Sirius's arm and then raised an eyebrow when he let go and I shrugged. "I'll expect a full report when we're done here." She said strictly while speaking out the side of her mouth. I blushed again and walked into a room out of one of my own nightmares.

All around me were exercise balls, a turf track for running, hurdles to jump over, and in the middle of the room was a large rope that extended to what looked like a never ending ceiling. "Well, ladies, welcome to boot camp. We're going to start with a little yoga, then move on to a little track, then climb that rope, and to finish off we're going to do abdominal work with those balls." Sirius opened his mouth to say what I assume to be a dirty joke, seemingly undaunted by all this terrible equipment, but was stopped when Blair blew a whistle in his face. "This is important, Sirius, and you will respect this workout or I'll make you respect it."

She blew her whistle again and three mats appeared on the ground. Pulling my long hair into a tight ponytail, I went to stand next to one. In less than three minutes, Blair had us positioned like James had warned Sirius: in a very painful, hilarious to see pretzel. And shit yeah, it hurt like I _never _thought I could. Sirius groaned in what was a _very_ sexual manner and as Blair and I stifled our giggles, he glared while stretching his long legs from his position.

"I didn't say you could stop, Black," Blair said from her serene position in front of us. With another whine, he pulled his legs back into position and then looked at me for help. I shrugged, just now starting to feel my legs go numb from loss of blood circulation. "Awesome, Alex. Can you feel yourself just melting away with your stress?"

"I feel something alright." I muttered and then with extreme carefulness, I pulled my legs into a normal cross-legged position. Sigh. Much better. We had only been at it for about ten minutes and already I was sweating a lot. "Blair, I think if we're going to be able to make it for the rest of the time you should cut the yoga portion a bit short." I stated loud enough for her to hear me while gesturing between Sirius and I. He nodded in agreement and then unhooked his body.

Pushing his hands through his hair and making it stick up odd, Sirius smiled and made a face. "No wonder you and Prongs had so much stamina to keep it up all night. This shit is stimulating. Maybe I'll use it before," Wagging his eyebrows, he nudged Blair with an elbow and she blushed at the innuendo.

"For your information, James and I never went farther than what you happened to walk in on one day." It was Sirius's turn to blush and before they could get into the details of James and Blair's personal business, I stood up and turned towards the track field. My legs felt wobbly as I walked over to the hurdles that stood only a foot or two off the ground. _Not too hard for the first timers._ I thought while Blair and Sirius joined me looking a bit more steady on their feet.

Blair walked me around to the other side of the track and then set Sirius opposite me. "Okay, what we're going to do is sort of like a relay race," I kind of dazed off here while I watched Sirius concentrate very intensely on what Blair was explaining. Finally she stopped and I screamed as Sirius started to run straight towards me. Taking off in the opposite direction, I heard him laugh as he caught up to me very quickly and picked me up in stride.

"Put me down," I yelped as I watched the ground go from underneath me. Slowing to a halt, Sirius's flushed face came into view as he sat me on the ground. "That's for not paying attention, Ms. Parker." I let my heart slow before punching him in the chest. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"

I heard Blair laugh at us from farther down the track. "I highly doubt he would have given you a heart attack, Alex. Now, let's do some suicides together. It'll be fun." We walked back to the starting point and began some modified suicides.

And, oh yeah, it was great fun. Especially when she added in the hurdles.

An hour later, I fell back on the ground tossing an exercise ball away from me and wiping my sweaty hair off my forehead. "Jesus, Blair, if this is how you work out every time than I want no more part in it." From somewhere to my left an even breathed person sat down and began untying their shoes. I leaned forward on my elbows, realizing that my abs were going to kill me in the morning. Hell, they were killing me now. And my legs, plus a muscle in my arm that I didn't even know we had.

"You're such a lightweight. That isn't usually what I do either. I like to do a few more stretches and some more abs work. I just added in the running so you would actually be able to make it to class without dying." Letting out a wheezing laugh, I watched my friend who barely even looked red in the face. Her ponytail was still bouncy, her make-up was still awesome, and she was just slightly flushed to give her face a pretty glow. Once again, I thought about how stupid James had to be to break-up with her.

"I, for one, don't want to move for a week." Sirius said, wiping his face with the t-shirt he had discarded a while ago. I had ogled for awhile, but then it was a struggle to even keep up so I had to stop my stare fest. Now though, I reminded myself that I already had a boyfriend and shouldn't watch the Adonis in front of me in the first place.

"Well, dinner is probably being served so I'm going down. Sirius, I trust I can leave you to help Alexa down?" When Sirius nodded, she bounced out of the room and shut the door, leaving us in a breathy silence. After a moment, I noticed that the floor underneath me was suddenly soft. I looked up to see that the room surrounding me had changed. Sirius shrugged and then laid down on a soft, cushy bean bag.

I crawled over to where he sat and then imagined the consequences of sitting with him. It wouldn't be cheating, I told myself, and it wasn't going to go anywhere. I was just tired and needed a place to sit down. I sat and Sirius moved over to allow me a good amount of space and some room of my own. "So, was it just me or did Blair take it up about thirty notches at the end? I feel like my stomach is going to rip apart." Saying this, he patted his unbelievably flat stomach and my eyes were drawn down to his abs. Damn it.

"I know exactly what you mean; she said it was for my benefit, but if this keeps up I won't be able to walk to class much less make it there on time." Sirius raised himself up and looked me in the eye, his damp unruly hair falling into to his eyes to cast a shadow over his brow.

"It doesn't look like you need to work out," He complimented and I smiled in thanks. We sat staring at each other for a moment and then the door opened. Still, we didn't look away thinking that it was probably only Blair coming back to get us since we were taking so long. When the person at the door didn't say anything, I watched Sirius's face for recollection. As his eyes went so dark they looked as black as his name, I knew it couldn't be good.

I sat all the way up and turned quickly, watching Caradoc's eyes widen with disbelief. "It's not what you think, Caradoc, please don't jump to conclusions." Not saying anything, he turned and walked out of the room; the only emotion showing that he was pissed was the door slamming on the way out. "Shoot me in the face." I muttered as I stood quickly and almost ran to the door, forgetting about the pain in my abs and legs. I was almost to the door when Sirius spoke behind me.

"Please don't leave, Alexa." I stopped short and turned around with a stilted motion to find him watching me with a pleading look on his face. He got up quickly and was in front of me in a moment. "Stay with me; I don't care what he thinks or what he wants to do. I've seen the way he treats you and it's like crap. Let me have that second chance, please, stay here with me." My heart lurched and my face fell. Sirius reached for my hand and I hid them quickly to stop myself from doing what I really wanted and staying.

But he had hurt me before and Caradoc was my boyfriend. "Don't," I said while pulling back, "Please just let me go. Sirius this isn't what we agreed on. You can't do this and expect us to still be able to be friends." He let me go and I hesitated for a moment before giving him a quick hug. "You're still my friend, Sirius, just not anything more."

He closed his eyes and then turned away from me. "Go get your boyfriend, Alex." And with that I turned away and opened the door, wishing with all my heart that things had gone differently the first time.

------------------------

After punching myself in the face for being so mellow dramatic and angst-ridden, I stalked off to find Caradoc while berating myself on what a slag I was being. Of course Caradoc had every right to be upset. He had walked in on his girlfriend and her old hook-up sitting sweaty and half-clothed very close to each other. I imagine that if I had been the one walking in on that I would be pretty pissed too. So now I was stalking around the corridors of Hogwarts looking for my freaked out boyfriend.

Lucky for me, he was sitting at the top of the stairs leading to the Gryffindor Common Room. I heaved a relieved sigh and went to sit next to him. He didn't look up when I sat down, but I could from the clenching of his jaw that he was very tense. "I don't know what to say that's going to make this okay, Caradoc. I just want you to know the truth." I started. He winced slightly, but kept his head straight forward to stare at the wall. "What you walked in on was _not_ what it looked like. Blair, Sirius, and I had been exercising and she had just left when you walked in."

Caradoc laughed harshly and then sent me a glare. "So you, Blair, and Black 'exercise' together in a room that looks like it's a giant mattress. Of course, I believe that entirely." He scoffed and stood up, making his way down the stairs. I sat for a minute before realizing that he had just implied that I would have a threesome with my best friend and the bane of my existence. Now I was pissed.

'That is not what I meant and you know it, Dearborn." I yelled as the staircase turned and I had to wait for it to stop and swing back before I could get to him. "_You_ _stop right now._" I finished making it up the stairs, basically jumping off the stairs and tripping slightly. Cursing my clumsiness, I blocked out the slight twinge coming from my ankle and stalked towards Caradoc. "Blair left, and if you want I'll take you back there and show you what the room looked like. Sirius changed the room so it would be more comfortable and we wouldn't be laying on the floor when we tried to cool off. I sat next to him because he's my _friend._ Do you know what one of those is or are your friends too big of douches for you to recognize one properly?"

I vented my anger as Caradoc stood there and looked at me angrily. Well you know what, I was pissed too. "I'm not a whore, Caradoc; and I thought that you would have more piece of mind than to call your own _girlfriend_ a derogatory name." I pushed him backwards and turned to walk away when I realized that the stairs were no longer there. Thank Merlin for his lightening fast chaser reflexes, because if he hadn't pulled me back I was going to be taking a long walk of a short balcony. "Thanks," I muttered turning to walk past him. Once again, I was foiled.

"I wouldn't call you a whore if you weren't acting like one. And my friends are perfectly fine; they weren't making fun of you just stating the facts. Perhaps your warp on friendship is twisted because your best friend is a wreck over a guy who most likely got her pregnant, as rumor has it, and your _sister_ snuck around with a guy that already had a girlfriend," he took a breath while I stood there flabbergasted, "Yeah, that sounds like a good group. Plus, I wouldn't have even found you if it hadn't been for Lyla ratting you out."

"Don't even think about bringing my sister into this! I doubt she told you anything about where I was. You won't start a fight between us." Letting all my anger bubble to the surface, this time I pushed him so hard he stumbled. Then I followed him while poking him in the chest. "And one, Blair is the nicest person you will ever meet; she's upset because her boyfriend is in love with someone else while she dated him."

Caradoc opened his mouth to speak and I poked him again. "You are not in the same boat with her. I don't love Sirius and I never have. Moving on, Lyla was with Remus because Andy is a bitch and was with Remus to gain clout. She didn't deserve him and so she got what was coming towards her. It's called karma." It was my turn to take a breath and when I did I felt some of my anger flowing away. Hum, perhaps screaming was good for me. I'll have to tell the girls. "And the last thing I want to say is I'm sick and tired of all the apologizing that we seem to do. We keep making mistakes and fucking it up."

"Who's fault is that?" Caradoc asked sarcastically and I shook my head in disbelief.

"Yours, you jackass. First you don't believe me and force me to choose between my friend and you. Then you punch me in the face, and yes, I know it was you. After that you let your friends beat up on me just after we got back together after you screwed up because of a bet that said you could get me into your bed. I screwed up one time and I'm suddenly to blame for all of it?" I rolled my eyes and pushed him one more time for good measure. Then I got up in his face and smirked. "I don't think so cowboy. And now that I think about all of this, I realize that I'm done. For good this time. Don't come asking for forgiveness again."

It was Caradoc's turn to look blankly before he shoved _me_ away from him and started towards the stairs. "Whatever, I don't need a mellow-dramatic slut to slow me down anyways." I laughed in outrage and just then noticed the crowd of people congregating outside the common room above us. Some were hanging on the staircase to watch the spectacle. Then I realized that Caradoc saw then too and was putting on a show that would make me look like a whore and him look like the wronged person. "I'm actually glad that you cheated on me with Black."

The wheels in my head turned quickly as I walked up to him and slapped him hard across the face. My hand stung afterwards and I tried not to shake it out. "Well, I am too. He was at least five times better at it than you were. Plus," I said, looking down lewdly and making my point clear, "Size really does matter." I tried not to laugh at the look on his face as I turned away and heard the laughter coming down from above. Thinking I had the last word, I stepped onto the stairs that would take me down to the Great Hall. Breaking up with your douche-bag boyfriend makes a girl hungry.

Looking accomplished on the outside was nothing compared to how I felt on the inside. I was hurt, upset, and I really wanted to just punch someone in the face. Pretty much running down the stairs so he couldn't say something else and prolong this fight anymore, I raced towards the kitchen for a big carton of ice cream. Vanilla with lots of chocolate chips and chocolate syrup if possible.

I changed my tactics, however, as Blair came barreling through the hallway leading to the dancing fruit portrait. "Meeting; in the Room of Requirements," She kept her pace mumbling to herself about getting Lyla together as well. When she noticed through her crazy ranting that I wasn't behind her, she turned back towards me sharply, her long hair flowing like a curtain around her. "Now, Alexa. This is important."

I snapped out of my daze and continued on with Blair. We got a few strange looks as we passed, probably because the rumors were already flying about which one of us was pregnant, sleeping with six different guys, or just generally being an idiot. I wish I could say that rumors didn't fly that fast, but when you think of all the kids nosy for gossip around this school, it gets ridiculous. Finally, we found Lyla studying in the library at a back table by herself. Or, I assume she was by herself because I didn't see anyone else. Besides the point though.

"We're leaving, Lyla, get your stuff and meet us in the Room of Requirement pronto." Blair said before smiling tightly and turning to leave. This left me with Lyla who sent me a confused look, then a sympathizing one. "So that was weird. And I am _so_ sorry about what happened with Caradoc. I had no idea that Sirius was with you two. I thought it was just the girls hanging out."

I shrugged my shoulders. "It's really whatever. The whole screw-up/apologize thing was getting a little too prissy for me. But yeah, we were all working out and then Caradoc walked in when it was just Sirius and I." Lyla nodded understandingly and then gathered her book bag while she led us out of the library.

"Good. I didn't want to say anything but this should put everyone back in a good mood," I raised my eyebrow (at least attempted) and she elaborated. "Isn't this what you and James were arguing about? I thought that the only reason he was really mad at you was because he didn't approve of you and Caradoc?" That's my sister for you; move straight from my feelings to how we can get everyone happy again. I slung my arm around her smaller frame and we walked in a curvy line as we made our way for the special room.

"Yeah, I guess, but I want him to apologize for getting all up in my business," I said while taking on a gangster accent. Lyla laughed and when we reached our destination, the door was propped open and I could smell cookies. "Oh, my god. I forgot just how hungry I am." Practically mowing the door down, I pushed into the room going straight for the plate of gooey chocolate cookies on the table in the center of the room. Before my arm could successfully grab one, however, some invisible force field dropped over the delicious snack.

I looked around, just now realizing that the only light in the room was coming from a spotlight over top of the cookies that were now trapped away under some contraption. Lyla took her time entering the room, looking around carefully just incase something was going to jump out of the woodwork at her. I was about to call out for Blair when I heard her voice resonate eerily through the room. "Take a seat, Lyla. Alexa."

Two chairs ended up underneath us, then zoomed forward to sit us at a table that seemed to appear out of nowhere. "You may get up and take part in the food and drink after you answer this interrogation." Blair stepped out from the shadows then. She was wearing a smart black no-nonsense suit, glasses (that were most likely _not_ hers) on the tip of her nose so she could look down at us menacingly, and she had some heeled shoes on so she'd be taller than us. There was also a folder that was decorated plainly with a black and white picture of Lyla and I on it. Clearly it was doctored, since it showed us both looking nervous and put-out in a mug shot type room.

"What the hell, Blair? We're just two girls trying to have a good time and then you're going to interrogate us because," I trailed off into nothing as Blair came around the table and slapped the folder down on the table. Her glare was like acid, and I shivered at the force of it, only then remembering that I was still in my work-out clothes. Gross. While my mind went wondering, I was only pulled back to the present when Blair spoke loudly and angrily.

"You will speak when answering questions only. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of our friendship," I looked out the corner of my eye to see if Lyla was understanding this as well. I may be a witch, but I knew enough about muggle things by being a half-blood. Was she really going to do the good cop/bad cop thing? "Now, where were you on the night of two Thursdays ago. Alexa?"

She spoke quickly, catching me off guard and I stuttered for a minute before answering. "Uh, I think I was here at school?" She rolled her eyes before crossing the table again and then leaning across it at me.

"I know that you're tired, Alex, but perhaps this would help you change your mind." Blair waved her wand and the barrier between my nose and the cookies beautiful, enticing smell was broken. As my hunger assaulted me, Blair smiled viciously and leaned back in a chair she had procured magically. I drug in a breath deeply and then opened my mouth to speak.

"Don't tell her anything!" Lyla busted out in a devil shriek and I shook my head to clear my senses as Blair narrowed her gaze towards my sister and the barrier was put back into place. My stomach growled like a car engine and I groaned in hunger. _I'm so hungry_. I thought as Blair moved around the table to Lyla.

"What's this, hum? Got something to share with the whole class, Ms. Parker?" Lyla shook her head, getting up from her chair and walking to where I assume a wall was and flipping a switch. Lights flooded the room and I saw that we were actually in a very comfortable looking living area complete with kitchen and plush beanbags. "Get up, Alexa, we need to talk to Blair."

I did as Lyla said, going straight for the cookies that were now exposed to all. As I bit into the first one I moaned in pleasure. "Oh, gosh. That's _perfect_." Both of my friends looked at me strangely and I took the plate over to where they were sitting. "Okay, Blair, besides the fact that you wanted to test out your interrogation skills and probably were going to use this little set-up to get back at James, what did you really want to know."

Blair laughed and took her heels off, then pulled her suit coat off to reveal her shirt she had been working out in earlier. "Do you think it would work if I did it to James? You guys would _have_ to help. Anyways, I was just wondering what the hell is going on with everyone around this school. Suddenly I'm pregnant, you're sleeping with Sirius, and Lyla is having it off with every guy that looks at her."

I leaned back, biting into another cookie and offering the plate around. "After you left, Sirius and I stayed for a bit. Caradoc found us, freaked out, we broke up, and he verbally attacked you guys and me. I meant to take care of it, but I was so freaking pissed that I just walked away before he could get in the last work. Sorry, you guys, it's pretty much my fault."

Both my sister and best friend rolled their eyes. "Doubt it, Alexa. It's all that douche bag Caradoc's fault. Plus, that's only a drop in the ocean compared to this next one I heard," Lyla motioned for Blair to continue on, which she gladly did. "Andy Ablo came up to me after I was trying to scavenge some food since dinner was pretty much an affair. Anyways, she's like 'Your friends are trying to sabotage you,' and I was like 'oh, really? What this time?" She did some crazy hand movement then took a bite out of her cookie.

"To make a long story short, she said you two were plotting to get Lily and James together. I just laughed at her, but she didn't seem to think it was that funny." I felt my face drop and could tell that Lyla was starting to turn a bright red. Blair, of course, took this in a totally different way. "I don't care if you guys hang out with Lily. I have acknowledged that James is the one to blame in this situation and I'm a better person for it.

"But I swear to Merlin that if you stab me in the back too, I'll get so drunk that I'll probably defile your bed with feces and jump out of a window." I nodded too much to look innocent and Lyla choked on her food before getting up to go into the kitchen to get a drink.

"You want anything, Bear? I'm going to make a sandwich or see if I can find some crisps." Blair nodded in the affirmative for crisps and I got up quickly to check on Lyla who was sure to be hyperventilating by now. "Calm the heck down, we aren't doing anything wrong, Lyls." I said when I found my sister was looking through the cabinets with a vigor.

"But we _are_ plotting with Lily!" She whispered morosely.

"Plotting with Lily to get _Blair_ back together with James though." I reasoned, and Lyla stopped in her search for a brown paper bag.

"Yeah, yeah. We can go with that." I rolled my eyes and grabbed her by the shoulders. Since I was taller than her (even though she was older) I effectively stopped her. "We're not going to 'go' with anything. It's the truth, Lyla, and you know it. So does El Diablo, so it doesn't matter. We are helping our friend, not hindering her. Now, if you're done acting a fool, go hang out with our friend while I get us some snacks."

I pushed Lyla out into the living room area and she went, her straightening posture the only reassurance I needed. Blair was going to be fine, and it wasn't like Lily wanted to hurt Blair in any way. At least, I was pretty sure that she was no longer sucked up in the devil's terrible ways. I didn't really have that much time to dwell, however, because when I got back out with the snacks and we had just started to gossip about what went down during the 'training' session earlier (Blair making impressions of Sirius and I; Lyla and I rolling around laughing), the door to the room burst open.

We all three screamed like little girls and then huddled together as we turned to see who the intruder was. Because I've done some bad things in my life, the person just happened to be one of my favorite people: Bree. Awesome, I thought, as she strode in the door like she owned the place even though it came from Blair's imagination. "Lovelies, I knew I would find you all here."

I tried not to groan as she plopped down with us, a sure fire sign that she was going to be here for awhile. "Of course, Bree, what is it that you need?" That was Lyla, ever the helpful one. _Shut up,_ I wanted to scream, but then figured it would be too noticeable, so I settled on telepathy instead. They continued to talk while I tried to contact Lyla and Blair with my mind. Since it wasn't working, I turned my attention back to what bullshit Bree was spouting this time. Yeah, I said I was over being mad at her. I lied, so sue me.

"Well, I didn't come to chit-chat. What I really wanted to tell you is that I have a way to get James back for you." Blair's ears perked at this and I could tell that she wanted to punch Bree for bringing it up, but also wanted to listen to this obviously pretentious solution. Seeing that she had caught everyone's attention, Bree smirked and leaned in conspiratorially (big word!). "Do you really want to know or are you just semi-interested?" She asked, her eyes alight.

Blair sighed, visibly restraining herself while Lyla sat there, politely interested and I rolled my eyes continuously. "If we didn't want to know than I would have kicked you out a long time ago, Bree." I said for Blair who nodded emphatically. Bree slightly narrowed her eyes for a minute before slapping her fake smile on mega-high again.

"I thought we were behind all that, A? Lyla has forgiven me, why can't you?" She pouted at me for effect and I clenched my jaw while Blair laughed. We both knew Lyla hadn't forgiven Bree for making up rumors about Remus and me. Without taking notice to this, she continued on. "_Anyways_, all you need to do, Blair, is make poor little Potter jealous with another, more experienced boy and he'll be eating out of the palm of your hand in no time."

With a loud laugh, I patted myself on the back. There was no way the Blair I knew would go for this. She was above degrading herself by trying to break another boys heart while getting back at the one who broke hers. I looked up to tell Bree to piss off and get out of my face, but before I could I caught Blair's gaze. She was actually thinking this over?! Bree sent me a triumphant look and then seized her opportunity while Blair was mulling it over.

"Just think about it, B. You flirt with one of the more popular boys that would get right under James's skin, date for a little while, and flaunt the fact that James gave up the best girl he'd ever have the luck to catch," I opened my mouth again to butt in, but Bree leaned in front of me. "This way you get to have fun with another pretty boy while getting back the one who already has your heart. You have his too, Blair. It's only a matter of time before he realizes this and forgets all about little red."

Blair looked to Lyla, who shrugged noncommittally and then turned her gaze to me. Finally, with the floor finally mine to voice my opinion, I did so. "Hell no. Using someone and breaking their heart while trying to get back the one who broke your's is _not_ a good idea. You should know that Blair, you're the one who was always drilling it into my head." She looked at me pleadingly while I continued to remember all the times I wanted to make Sirius jealous last year.

Bree took the opportunity of indecision to rise and take her leave. "I'll just leave you to mull it over, B. Just remember that in the end it's your heart that was on the line and James in the one that took it away."

I clenched my fists so I wouldn't jump from _my_ seat and beat the stuffing out of my ex-friend and watched her impeccable posture as she walked away. It was silent for a moment before I too stood up. "Alexa, please don't be mad. You don't understand what it's like to love someone this much. I hurt _everyday_ and _every time_ that I see him. It's different this time."

I looked back at Blair, then at Lyla who was looking away. "You're right; I don't know what it's like and maybe it _is_ different. But someone is still getting hurt and I don't want my best friend turning into another Bree." She made a move to get up and reassure me, but I brushed it off. "I know that you'll choose what's best but think of all the possibilities. Use the LISTEN process." I winked at her to let her know that she was still in good terms with me and we all laughed at the joke of LISTEN. "I'm just going to go get a head start in fending off these rumors. And I need to tell Sirius before he gets wind and beats someone again."

They both nodded to me and I snagged one more cookie before hurrying out the door. Once I was secure in the hallway, I drug in as much air as I could and tried my hardest to smell the lingering scents of Bree's custom perfume. And there it was, the scent of cinnamon and cloves. Thank goodness I had one sense that worked correctly. I followed where I thought she had gone and knew I was right when I heard the clacking of heels up ahead. I slinked around a corner until I saw her straight brown hair duck into an alcove.

Creeping as close as I could get without being had, I listened carefully to hear two voices speaking: Bree and not surprisingly Andy. "She's going to do it, Andy. And then when she gets all screwed up, she's coming right to us because her friends will be exposed as the frauds they are." I heard Andy's high pitched laugh and almost clawed my ears off.

"Excellent. This way we gain a friend, tear apart _their_ friendship, and hopefully, if we can get James and the rest involved we can take down the Marauders too. Wouldn't that be fanciful?" They shared a maniacal laugh, although I guess if you were someone else it would just sound like a tinkling giggle, whatever. It is what I say it is.

While I was trying to hear what was being said after that, someone came up behind me and covered my mouth before poking me lightly in the stomach. "I hear you're having my child," I rolled my eyes and pried myself free. Turning to look up at Sirius, I smiled when I saw his classic smirk.

"Yeah, I guess. I just wish I could remember it." We both laughed and I remembered that we were outside the alcove where the shit was going down. The curtain was pulled aside and Bree and Andy stepped out looking at Sirius and I with disgust. "Getting into a few dirty deeds, Ladies?" Sirius asked smoothly and Andy blushed while Bree just looked at him slightly put out.

"Whatever, at least we wouldn't get pregnant at fifteen." I glared, the slight about how I was younger than everyone making me angry at her again. She always had to bring that shit up. Sirius jokingly put his arm around me and then hugged me close. "Well, don't be jealous Bree. I guess you just aren't worth the effort." I laughed at her face and let Sirius steer me back to the Common room leaving the two girls standing and watching our retreating backs.

"You know that we are going to be shot in the face tomorrow because of that?" Sirius shrugged and I momentarily forgot about the whole Blair-Bree-James-Lily fiasco when his face lit up in a teasing grin. Suddenly, I was very glad that we decided to be friends again. I forgot how much easier life was to deal with when he was around you. "Yeah, but hey, at least people will know that Sirius Black delivers."

I laughed all the way back to the common room.

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So it was actually a couple days after the incident in the room of requirement, which was referred to as BBC or Blair Bad Cop, that I actually got to talk to anyone about what I had heard in that alcove. It was officially the weekend and I was sitting by myself in the Great Hall after potions doing my latest essay and trying unsuccessfully to loosen my tie enough to still look presentable and not choke. It was when I heard laughter behind me that I found my savior in rolled up shirtsleeves and untucked shirt. Sans tie, I might add.

"Quit your laughing, Lupin, and help me out before I choke myself and drool all over this essay. If I don't get it turned in on Monday, Sluggy is going to _kill_ me." Remus laughed and then made a big show of fixing the knot in my tie and _then_ wiping his hands on his pants as if I had germs or something. "Ha-ha. Let's all make fun of poor Alexa Parker." My voice was supposed to be playful, but it came out a bit more bitter than I had intended. Remus sent me a look and I turned back to my finished essay. "Sorry."

"Quite alright, but you're going to have to explain." That was the thing about Mr. Lupin; he was always willing to sit down and talk out your problems. Lucky for me, it seemed like he never had any problems of his own. No bitchy girlfriend, at least not anymore; no stupid friends; no appearance issues. The boy had it all.

"You're probably the best older brother a girl could have, you know that Remy?" He shrugged off the compliment and sat next to me on the bench. Taking my essay away from me, he looked over what I had previously written, marking corrections in a few places and adding details in others. All the while I just stared at him, knowing that, like Lyla, he would only rest peacefully once it was done. When he handed it back, there were side notes and corrections filling the margins. I looked at him from over the now renewed essay. "You know I'll probably only do about half of these, right?"

Remus raised his eyebrow, which was a skill I lacked. "Well, that's what you get for implying that I was your brother." I arched my brows now and attempted to look offended. "It would mean that Lyla and I would be related and therefore our relationship would be incestual."

I pondered this thought for a moment before countering it with my own. "Not exactly. Only if you had the same birth parents. However, if my mom had Lyla and then for some un-seeable reason married your dad, who had already had you with your birth mother than you wouldn't really be related. Unless, of course, your birth mother was somehow related to Lyla's birth mother," A hand clamped over my mouth then as a confused Remus shook his head sadly.

"You really need to get that head of yours checked." Remus said, dropping the hand from my mouth and cuffing the top of my head with a smile. Now, do you want to tell me what you were so violently breaking your tie about?" I shrugged dragging my stuff into my bag and motioning for Remus to follow me out of the Great Hall.

"Let's go to the library, I have a bit more research to do for my Defense project." As they walked, I clued Remus in on what went down the other day in the alcove, leaving off the part about Sirius coming to my aid. "And I'm really just about to punch both whores in the face and haul ass out of there when I decided it was best if I leave." So I embellished a bit; sue me. After all of that, I then told him about the letter I had gotten from an owl about two mornings ago, from Caradoc. Asking that we could please talk about all of this. Kindly, I had told him to give me some space and I would think about it. I hadn't.

Remus looked thoughtful for a minute as we stood outside the library, waiting for a group of seventh year girls to pass before he continued. They stared for a minute, then whispered about Remus. This, I assumed, meant that those rumors still hadn't died. "Yes, I'm a terrible person!" Remus yelled after them and we laughed as they turned the corner. Then, more seriously, he spoke to me. "Now, Alexa, as much as I love it when you try to hatch these schemes to take everyone out, you never _really_ go through with them," At my defensive look, he clarified. "All I'm saying is that it might be in good favor to talk things out for once. See where Bree is coming from and then make up a game plan. For all we know it could be Andy that is orchestrating the whole thing."

I scoffed and then thought about it. "First of all, we aren't in music class so Andy isn't orchestrating anything. Secondly, what you say may not be a bad idea." I channeled my inner Chicago mobster as Remus shook his head at my obvious incompetence when it came to metaphors. "I'm going to make her an offer she can't refuse." I laughed manically and then turned to go into the library.

"That's not exactly what I meant," Remus muttered as I turned around to send him a really over exaggerated wink. "I expect this to stay on the down low, Remy. I'll see you later! I'm off to find the traitorous bitch," I paused for a minute and then shrugged at Remus' rolled eyes. "I meant Bree. Tootles!"

I flounced into the library, avoiding the eyes of the hawk-like librarian and looking over at the table me and my homies usually occupied. Seeing that it was occupied with a brunette I knew, I slowly made my way over thinking that it would be a perfect time to execute my plan. Hah, take that Remus, and there would be no screaming or harassing involved. Or at least, not too much.

I shuddered quickly as I quietly made my way towards my ex-best friend. She was sitting in the same table as always, leaning across the table as she had that fateful day when she had decided my friendship was less important than her flavor of the week. Which happened to be the flavor of my life at that point, and if I was being true to myself, still was. As I approached I could tell that Bree was not alone and that the voice that carried across the room seemed somewhat familiar.

When I reached the small, sheltered corner of the room, where you could see, hear, and practically do anything, I realized why that voice was so familiar. Sitting across from Bree in the spot where Blair usually sat herself was my ex-boyfriend. Flirting it up with my ex-best friend. Amazing how both exes seemed to turn on me this year. Forgetting my pact with Remus in all my anger, I stalked the rest of the way with a deadly purpose. I had had enough of these two wankers and now they were going to die.

Figuratively, of course. And perhaps socially if I was feeling up to the task.

"Lovely that you both could make it. I see that even the thought of an impending doom doesn't stop you from screwing my leftovers, Bree." Yes, it was mean and crude, seeing as I had implied that Caradoc and I had possibly done more than kiss occasionally, but the very small part of me that had feelings for Caradoc was hurt. Also, the place in my platonic heart where my old friend was supposed to be ached because she wasn't supposed to turn on me. When had all the shit gone down?

Bree rolled her eyes and lifted her elbows off the desk, blocking Caradoc's view of her cleavage, but saving me from having to be overpowered. "Alexa, you should know that Caradoc came to me, as did Sirius, so it's not like they _actually_ wanted you." She smirked as I clenched my fists. That one stung and I thought, _screw the plan, Remus, it's go time._

Before I got the chance to retaliate, however, Caradoc was standing slightly and trying to speak to me. "I wasn't doing this to be like Black, Alexa. Promise. She came on to me and," I laughed out loud at that, drawing more than one person's attention throughout the library.

"Don't bullshit me, Caradoc. You are a hypocritical, lying, manipulative, jackass of a person and you don't deserve my time. All you do is apologize, and as I stated earlier in the week, I'm tired of it all. I thought maybe taking a few days off would make me miss you a little and then I could calm down." I gave it a second and paused as if in thought.

Then I shook my head, "Nope, I just really want to kick you ass from here to London. Now I'm going to say it one last time; stop apologizing, stop bothering me, and stop talking to me. We are through and I am officially done. And one last thing," I blurted as he turned to walk away angrily. "Don't you ever let your friends talk bad about me again. I am perfect just the way I am." He rolled his eyes and even I had to admit that it had sounded cheesy but whatever.

Turning, I looked at Bree who was busy masking her surprised look. Yes, I had stood up for myself which she wasn't used to. "If you want to say your piece do it now, Bree. I have some anger still pent up and I really want to punch someone in the face." In a quick series of motions, Bree had gone from silent, to shocked, to scheming. And all s's too.

"Everything you heard in that alcove was true, Alexa. For that I'm not going to apologize. You treated me like crap for years; Blair and Lyla included. Blair was always dumping me for James, Lyla and you were so close that no one could ever get between that, and then Sirius was always infatuated with you. Alexa-never does anything to care-Parker. Well, I was sick of it," With a toss of her hair she rose from her seat and got ready to depart. "And now I'm going to destroy you. One piece at a time. Because you were my best friend for a long while and you abandoned me. I want you to feel that pain."

"You evil little person." Was all I said.

"Get ready for a war, Alexa, because it's coming for you. No matter if you tell Blair the truth or not. I'll just find another way to wear you down until you put yourself out of your misery."

"Bring it." I said calmly and she smiled before walking away. I slumped into the table and closed my eyes. Well, it was still just talking but I don't think it was the type that Remus was talking about. There was a tap on my shoulder as I tried to process it all and when I opened my eyes I was staring into a pair of hazel one, surrounded my wire-rimmed glasses.

"Sounds like you could use someone of my expertise." I smiled at James who smirked and hugged me quickly. "I was thinking that you could start by telling Blair whatever truth Bree wants to expose and then meet me back here after hours?" I nodded my head and he shrugged an arm over me. "I've got your back, little Parker. Let's take the female dog down."

Ah, finally, a savior with my own mindset. Bree was going down.

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Amulet Girl's Note of Importance: Okay, first off, I am so much better than BabyBlueEyes, and everyone knows it…. Even she knows it. Lol. However, I must give some huge props to my dear dear friend for a stupendous chapter that is the longest yet! I personally enjoyed it and I know you did too. I am going to start the next chapter pronto and hopefully it will be up fairly quickly. Well, see you lovely kittens later!

Tata.

P.S. All of you better bow down to me because if I hadn't constantly bugged my lovely coauthor this chapter may have never gotten finished or posted. So, you all are very welcome!


	14. Wow, That was Shameful

Disclaimer: I don't think we own it but let me check……nope, we don't own it.

Amulet's Note: Well, I don't know about you, but I cranked this 11,000+ word chapter in less than a week. Go me! So, worship me and all that stuff and leave lots of reviews to make my coauthor jealous. Hope all is well and you love the chapter. Enjoy the chapter and the Lyla/Remus cuteness, it almost killed me to write it.

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_Wow, That was Shameful_

_Lyla's Point of View_

As I sat there in the common room, curled up next to Remus on a couch next to a fire, I took a trip down memory lane back to where it all began. When we were in first year, everything was so much simpler. We were just small, innocent, naïve, little children who had hopes and dreams as high as the sky. The only complicated thing in our lives were constantly making sure we were trying to be well behaved in hopes that good old Santa Clause would put mounds and mounds of goodies under the Christmas tree. You know, when you're little and you keep saying that you can't wait to grow up; nobody warns you that things get all messed up and hard. I mean, I would have really appreciated a heads up.

December was passing slowly, and not only was the weather starting to turn cold, but a good majority of my classmates were turning cold themselves. Example one: Bree. She has taken it upon herself to completely destroy my dear sister; and Merlin knows I'll get pulled into it. Looking at all the issues that have been going on lately, I have found one common thread: love. That's another thing nobody warns you about; as a wee tike we all think, 'Oh, when I grow up, I'm going to meet the love of my life in some serendipitous event and we will live happily ever after, have lots of kids, and never have any problems.

Lies, all of them. Now, I'm not a cynic. I do believe that there is that one person out in the world that is truly meant to be with another person; but it's never easy.

I looked up at Remus who was busy reading and stroking my head lying in his lap. His eyes parted from his book and looked to me. He gave me a sweet smile and placed a gentle, loving kiss on my lips. When our lips parted, I gave him a smile and then he returned to his reading. I was one of those people who were lucky enough to have found their soul mate. But, then I thought of Blair. Now, I didn't know if James was her true soul mate; but I do know that when they broke up, she was heartbroken and that's one of the worst kinds of pain.

I closed my eyes and started to drift off into a deep sleep. Just as I was at the brink of entering dreamland, I felt a slight tickle on my foot. I jerked my foot a bit and the sensation subsided. Almost a minute later, it was back. I kicked my foot again, but the tickling came back as soon as I stopped moving my foot. "Remus, stop it," I muttered.

"I'm not doing anything," Remus replied.

I sat there for a moment and then peeled one of my eyes open and peered down to the end of the couch where my feet were. There was nothing down there, but I was sure that what I had felt was real and not just my imagination. I placed my head back on Remus' lap, but then I got this intuitive notion to look back down at the end of the couch. Sure enough, when I looked back to where my feet were, there were two eyes surrounded by dark hair peering over the arm of the couch.

"Alexa, may I ask what the hell you are doing?" I asked sitting up straight now.

Alexa slowly got up off the floor and revealed herself. With a broad smile on her face she came around and plopped down next to me. She put her arm around me, "Well, my lovely little Lyla…" she trailed off.

"What do you want, Alex?" I asked, seeing right through her charade.

"Nice alliteration," Remus said from beside me still reading his book.

"Why thank you, Remy. At least I know one person appreciates me," Alexa responded.

I smiled knowingly at her and said, "Come now, Alexa, just tell me what you want me to do."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" she exclaimed throwing her hands up acting like she was hurt by what I had said. "What makes you think that I want something?" she asked. I raised my eyebrow at her. "Okay, fine, I need your help with something."

When she said this, I noticed that Remus had closed his book and was listening intently. "Well, what is it that you need help with?" I asked.

Alexa looked around the empty room for a minute and then leaned in closer to me, "Um, I can't tell you."

I sat there for a moment. If she thought I was going to agree to do something without knowing what it was she had to be out of her mind. "If I'm going to help you, you have to tell me what I will be doing. On this point, I will not bend," I told her.

She leaned in a little closer and I felt Remus lean in a little closer as well. "I will tell you, I just can't tell you with certain people around," she whispered.

I scanned the completely empty common room and whispered back, "But, there's nobody in here besides us." I could tell Alexa was getting a little frustrated. She made her eyes really big and looked toward Remus. I looked back at Remus, who was now playing it cool and leaning up against the arm of the couch pretending not to be listening. I turned back to face my sister, "Why can't you tell Remus?"

"Frankly, because he would most likely be a teeny weensy upset with me if he knew what we were to be doing," Alexa stated.

Remus sat up yet again and leaned in to where he could talk to both of us. "This has to do with Bree doesn't it?" he asked, looking accusingly at Alexa. Alexa quickly looked away. "Oh, I knew it. You didn't follow my advice at all. What did you do?"

"Okay, to be fair, I did talk things out with her; but it's probably not the kind of talking that you were suggesting," she admitted biting her lip.

When she said this I jumped in, "Hold on, somebody fill me in. What did you tell her to do?" I asked Remus, "And what did you do?" I asked Alexa.

Remus went first, "Alexa and I were talking about the Bree problem, and I simply suggested that the best course of action would be to just try talking things out with her before any rash, and most likely dangerous, actions were taken. However, it seems that she took a different path."

I looked to Alexa awaiting her explanation. She took a deep breath and said, "I would first of all like to point out that all that happened between Bree and I was just talking. My initial intentions were to take you advice; but when I went to the library to find her, she was at a table with Caradoc and I may have veered a smidgen off course."

"How much is a smidgen, Alex?" I asked.

"Well, we pretty much verbally harassed each other and then she finished by vowing to destroy me piece by piece."

"You call that a smidgen?" I raised my voice.

"Okay, maybe it was more than a smidgen, but at least there was no physical violence," she added with a sound of optimism in her voice.

I couldn't help but laugh. "Alright, so what exactly do you need my help with?"

"Right, well, after Bree and Caradoc left, James came over because he had heard what went down and he offered me his assistance in taking Bree down before she could take me down. So, naturally, I figured you would want some part in it," she said flashing me a huge toothy smile.

I rolled my eyes at my silly sister. "Alexa, you know that I like taking down bitches as much as the next girl, but our schemes seem to either not pull through or they end miserably. Are you even sure that this is a good idea?"

"Lyls, it's practically full proof. With James' help we can't lose. And maybe good ole' Remy will even help," Alexa suggested raising her eyebrows at Remus

"Nope, I will take no part in this," he said putting a stop to that idea immediately.

"Wow, rejection hurts, but I appreciate your bluntness," she said to Remus acting hurt. "So what do you say? Yes? No? Maybe so?"

I thought about it for a few minutes, weighing my options. If I said no, there would be no chance of failing and then getting in trouble. On the other hand, I could almost go ahead and guarantee that if they did get in trouble, I would have to come and bail them out. If I said yes, there would be a chance that everything would go horribly wrong and blow up big time in our faces. Then again, if we did succeed I would be able to relish in the fact that Bree and Andy Ablo were forever demolished and would never terrorize again. Hmm… make a decision. I think I'll take my chances. "Yeah, sure, I'll do it. But just know, if we get in trouble for any of this and we aren't successful, you will most likely be killed, and I am not responsible for my actions."

A large smile spread across Alexa's face and her eyes ignited with light. She leapt from her seat and captured me in a hug. "Oh, Lyla, I knew you wouldn't let me down! And, don't you even worry, we won't get caught and we will take her down."

"How can you be so sure?" I asked.

"In the words of our master Mr. Potter, 'I settle for nothing less than excellence.'" Alexa said doing her best James impersonation. All three of us erupted into laughter. When our laughter had somewhat ceased Alexa said, "Alright, up we go." She sprightly hopped off the couch and offered her hands to me.

"Um, where are we off too exactly?" I asked, looking at Remus who was just as confused as I was.

"We have to go meet up with James and get down to business," Alexa said, sounding confused as to why I was asking.

"What are you talking about?"

"Did you miss that whole conversation we just had? You did say that you were going to help James and me, correct?"

"Well, yeah, but it's the middle of the night, and I'm tired. Can't we do this tomorrow?" I asked, hoping she would agree because I was extremely tired and I had planned on just spending the night with Remus.

"Yeah, come on, Alex. You guys will probably be able to think clearer after you guys get some sleep," Remus said trying to help my cause. I gave him a thankful look.

"Guys, evil doesn't wait till tomorrow! I bet they are planning an attack as we speak. Plus, James gave me strict orders to meet him tonight," Alexa explained.

"Fine, but you know I can't stay up late. So, if I fall asleep, it's not my fault," I said taking my sister's extended hands. She pulled me off the couch and then I turned back to Remus who was still in his spot. I gave him a weak apologetic smile and he took my hands in his. "I'm sorry about all this," I said, feeling a little guilty for cutting our night short. He just nodded understandingly.

Before I could turn to leave, Remus pulled me down onto his lap. He placed a slow unrushed kiss to my lips and lingered there for a few minutes before saying, "I'll see you tomorrow." He placed me back on my feet, smiled, and said, "Have fun." I gave him a smile and walked over to where Alexa was patiently waiting for me. "Alexa, tell James I expect him to bring her back safe."

Alexa smiled at his protectiveness, "Don't worry old boy, she's in good hands." And with that, she grabbed my hand and swiftly drug me out through the portrait hole into a dark empty corridor. "You two are nauseatingly cute; you know that?" I just smiled at my sister's comment. Alexa pulled her wand out from her pocket and instructed me to do the same. "Lumos," we both whispered. Light erupted from the tips of both of our wands and I could finally see. After our eyes adjusted to the lighting, Alexa started down the corridor.

I followed after her, almost jogging to keep up with her pace. I've never seen her move this fast; it must be the workout she had with Blair and Sirius. "Alexa. Where did you say we were meeting James?" I questioned.

"I didn't say, but we're meeting him in the library," Alexa responded as she peered around a corner to make sure no one was coming before proceeding.

The library? Sweet Merlin, we were going to get in trouble before we even began to take down another student. "Um, Alexa, I know that you and James don't spend a whole lot of time in the library, but surely you buys both know that the library does close at night and that we aren't suppose to be in there."

"Yeah we know," she coolly stated.

"Oh, good, I was just making sure," I said getting a little nervous about my choice to help them.

Alexa slowed her pace for a moment to be even with me. "Lyla, don't worry. I know you don't like getting in trouble, but for this mission, I'm going to need you to throw caution to the wind and really just have no moral standards until this is finished."

"Alright, I shall try." Alexa patted me on the back and then started forward again. I grabbed her arm, "Wait." I pulled her back next to me and cleared my throat, "Muffliato. There, now no one will hear us talking."

Alexa had a sly look on her face and she said, "See, this is exactly why we asked you to be apart of this. You think outside the box, and that's what I love about you. Now, we need to haul ass, because if we aren't back at the library in the next ten minutes, James will have a conniption."

We quickly, but stealthily, trotted down corridors, up stairs, and down stairs; until we finally made it to the library where no James was to be found. As we stood outside the large intricately carved wooden doors to the library, we looked and waited for James. After a few minutes, Alexa and I, both, started to get a little restless. "I thought you said he would be here, Alexa," I said to my sister, still scanning the dark corridors before me.

"This is where he told me to come, I have no idea where he is," Alexa responded. A moment later, we heard something, "Do you hear that?" Alexa asked hopefully.

"Yeah, I do. It sounds like footsteps. They sound like they're coming toward us," I whispered.

Alexa frantically looked around. She spotted a nearby statue and pulled me behind it with her. From behind the statue, we could still hear the approaching footsteps. "I'm going to peek around to see if I can see anything," Alexa mouthed to me. She slowly shifted her body to where she would be able to see but still hide the rest of her body. She tilted her head slightly to the side of the statue. "You have got to be kidding me," Alexa said with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Take a look at this," she said turning her head back to me.

I sat up a little and peeked my head around the statue. When I looked down the corridor where the footsteps had been approaching, I saw an all too familiar figure. James was walking nonchalantly toward us snacking on a cupcake. When James reached the doors to the library, Alexa stepped out from behind the statue, "James, what the hell? What are you doing, we have been waiting for you."

James placed the last piece of his confectionary snack in his mouth and chewed it slowly. When he finished chewing, he swallowed the cupcake, and cleared his throat. "Before I explain, do either of you happen to have any sort of beverage handy? I am just parched and that delectable cupcake didn't help, let me tell you," James said laughing a little.

"No, James, I'm sorry, I don't carry a pitcher of water with me at all times! Now, where were you?" Alexa asked angrily.

"Well, I was here waiting for you and then all of a sudden hunger pains attacked me. I mean, I was defenseless, they just came out of nowhere. I tried to just put them in the back of my mind so I could stay focused; but then, I smelled a smell, a heavenly smell," James told us. I looked over to Alexa who looked like she was getting agitated. "This aroma that I had the good fortune of sniffing was that of a fresh batch of caramel corn. I drew in another deep breath and the scent was now of butter cream frosting. Now here was my dilemma, if I had stayed where I was waiting for you, I would have surely died of hunger; and let's be honest, that's no good for anyone. So, I just popped into the kitchen for a quick visit and the house elves fixed me up a quick snack. And that pretty much brings us to now," James finished.

Alexa and I looked at each other. I personally was a little dumbfounded. I have never heard any person talk about food with the kind of reverence James had. I could tell by the expression on Alexa's face that she was racking her brain for something to say. Finally she found the words, "You are such a freak." Hmm… not exactly what I was expecting. "Can we get down to business please?"

"Oh, but my lady, I am already ten steps ahead of you," James said walking over to the large doors to the library.

Alexa looked shocked, "You've already thought of something?"

A confused look spread across James' face, "No, I'm literally ten steps ahead of you. From where you're standing to where I am, it's about ten steps. Now, come on, stop wasting time and get in here," he said pushing open the door and slipping into the library.

Alexa looked at me, "He is so exhausting. I just don't understand half of what he says."

"I know, I know," I said patting my sister on the back. "Come on," I encouraged her, as I made my way into the library following James. After Alexa entered through the door, I carefully closed the door making sure no noise was made. When I turned to go after Alexa, there was no one in sight. I looked around frantically but there were no signs of Alexa or James. I started to wander to the back of the library. As I neared the back wall, I saw a small flickering light coming from the far right corner. I rounded the last bookcase and found James and Alexa hovering over a table that was strewn with gobs and gobs of papers. I went to the table and took a seat. On the top of the mound of papers was The Marauders Map.

James took a seat and casually leaned back in his chair. "Alright, team, I have decided that the best time for all this to go down is Saturday morning."

At first what he said didn't register in my mind, then I suddenly realized that today was Friday. "Um, James, Saturday is tomorrow. You surely are referring to a future Saturday," I said trying to clarify things.

James let out a small laugh, "No, Lyla, in fact, I am most definitely referring to the Saturday that is tomorrow."

"Well, I don't know if you realize this, but there is no way that we will be able to get all this together by tomorrow morning," I said trying to reason with him.

"Lyla, on that, you are absolutely correct. We will set up everything later on tonight so everything will be able to go down in the morning without us being there. That way, they can't possibly link us to the crime. Personally, I think it's a brilliant plan," James said with a satisfied look on his face.

"You came up with it idiot," Alexa said to him.

"Don't discriminate against genius, Alexa," he responded.

Alexa went to retort, but I cut her off, "Okay, rule number one, you two are no longer allowed to fight. Good, now, we need to get going on this because the time is nearing eleven and I'm sure there is a lot we will have to do. James, do you have any idea to what we are going to be doing?" I asked.

"I'm glad you asked that. I have a general plan, but this is where you come in, I need you two to give me the specifics. I have found through my experiences, that the best way to tear someone down is to attack them using personal things. So tell me anything about Bree that we could use against her. And don't be afraid to get dirty, I settle for nothing less than excellence. Here write these things down," he said handing a piece of parchment and a quill to Alexa.

We sat there for a few minutes in thought and then Alexa said, "Well, her favorite color is pink."

James just sat there looking at Alexa. "Um, okay, you can go ahead and file that under completely useless pieces of information. Come on, guys, we need something that we could either use against her or sabotage. Think!"

After a few more moments thinking, I finally thought of something. "I don't know if we could use this, but, Bree is obsessed with her hair. She always had to make sure it was clean, so she would wash it every night and every morning no matter what."

"Yes! Now, that is exactly what we need. Okay, okay, so how can we use this? Well, I'll tell you, we will simply mess with her shampoo. Alexa, since you are so keen to her color palate, what is her least favorite color?" James asked Alexa.

After a glare at James she said, "Orange, she hates the color orange. She says that it washes out her complexion. She also doesn't like the color green."

"Perfect. We will make her shampoo turn her hair orange and her body wash turn her body green. This will be priceless. Alright, what else?" James prodded.

Alexa offered, "Everyday for breakfast, she always has to have eggs. I don't really know why, but it never fails, every morning she has eggs." I nodded my head in agreement.

"But, what if we don't have eggs for breakfast?" James asked.

"It doesn't matter," I told him. "If the house elves don't make eggs for the whole school, they always make a plate for her. Her parents wrote a letter or something about how she always has to have eggs for breakfast; if you think about it, it's kind of weird, but whatever. But, I do know that the house elves weren't very happy about it.

"You two are gold, do you know that?" James said in praise.

After a few moments of relishing in James' praise, Alexa's face lit up with an idea. "Oh, oh, oh, I have the perfect plan! Lyla, you know how she has that phobia of being fat?" I nodded my head. "Well, let's put something in her eggs that will make her look like she's gaining weight, she will totally flip!"

"I am so proud!" James exclaimed. "I have taught you well, my young apprentices. Those were both good ideas, but we need one finally thing that will just destroy her once and for all?" A smirk spread across Alexa's face. "Do you have something?" James asked eagerly.

"Oh, I got something," she said deviously. By the look on Alexa's face I could tell that whatever it was, it was good. But what was it? "Do you remember that party that you guys threw at the end of last year?" Alexa asked. James and I both nodded our heads. I thought back to that night to see if I could figure out what my sister was alluding to. When I remembered, my mouth fell open and I looked at Alexa with wide eyes. It was almost too perfect. "Yes, exactly Lyla," she said to me after seeing my face.

"What? What is it?!" James asked, frantically looking back and forth between me and Alexa.

"Alexa, maybe we should think about this for a minute. I mean, she told us that in confidence," I said.

"Yeah, but Lyla, she betrayed us, and is trying to take us down. This would humiliate her to no end, this is the secret weapon we need," she responded.

"Somebody please tell me what it is! Please?" James begged.

Alexa looked at me and then back at James, "At that party, Bree did some things that she wasn't proud of. The next day after the party, while we were all in our dorms getting ready to leave, she told us all about what happened. As it turned out, Bree had had a bit too much to drink and was as drunk as an old Irishman. Anyway, she said that she was just stumbling around, tripped, and landed on a couch where Peter was sitting. So, her being drunk out of her mind and Peter having no will to stand up and say anything, led to the two of them in a room, alone, with the lights off. Let's just say, things got out of hand and that night, Peter ceased to be just a boy, he was now a man."

James had shock written all over his face. "Hold on a second. You're trying to tell me, that Peter has sowed his wild oats? It can't be true," James said.

"No one would lie about sleeping with Peter," I pointed out.

James sat there in thought for a moment, "True. So, our little Peter is a man, but more importantly, we have what we need to ultimately destroy Bree once and for all. Alright, if we are going to get done by morning time we need to get started now. You two are going to be in charge of changing her shampoo and body wash; and I will take care of the eggs and the whole Peter thing."

"How are you going to handle the Peter thing?" Alexa asked.

"Don't worry about it, just leave it up to me. Now you two go on and take care of your things and feel free to use any of our supplies, there is a trunk of them under my bed. Once you have completed your mission, meet me back in the common room and we will review. It is slowly approaching one o'clock, so we need to act swiftly yet secretively." He stood up from the table and collected all of his papers in a messy bundle and said, "Let's go."

After we left the library, James made his way to the kitchen and we head back up to our dorms. James had given us his invisibility cloak and he took the Marauder's Map. Luckily, the corridors were empty and we didn't have any problems. When we entered into the Gryffindor common room, the only noise we heard was the soft crackle of the smoldering fires in the various fireplaces. We silently crept up to the James' dorm to get some supplies. Opening the door to his dorm, a soft creak was released. Alexa and I stood like statues and held our breath; when we heard no commotion coming from within, we continued into the room.

The boys' dorm was miraculously clean and three of the four boys were peacefully laying in their beds, the soft sounds of Peter snoring echoing in the room. As we made our way to James' bed Alexa grabbed my arm and pointed over to Sirius' bed. Sirius was curled up with his bear, Captain Awesome, and had a serene look on his face. Alexa bit back her laughter as we continued over to James' bed. I bent down to the floor and located a medium sized trunk. I carefully pulled the trunk out from under the bed and set it on the bed.

We undid the latch on the trunk and lifted the weighted top. Within the trunk, sat many sectioned off compartments, each one with a label explaining its contents. We looked at the various labels: Boils, Weeklong Illnesses, Slytherin Pranks, and Minnie, just to name a few. We finally found a compartment labeled Fun With Colors. In the compartment there were numerous potion vials and flasks filled with liquids of ever color. We located the section for hair, selected the orange bottle and went to the body part and selected green; both of them said that they would kick in fifteen minutes after application. This would be just the right amount of time for her to come down to the Great Hall for breakfast. This was really almost too easy.

Not wanting to delve any deeper into the trunk, for fear of what we would find, we closed the trunk and returned it to its spot beneath the bed. Slowly, we crept out of the dorm and headed back to our own dormitories. When we got to our dorm, everyone was sound asleep so we quickly slipped into the bathroom, closed the door and locked it. I handed the green vile to Alexa and I kept the orange one. In the shower I grabbed Bree's gardenia scented shampoo and Alexa grabbed her strawberries n' crème body wash. We brought both bottles to the counter. We both looked at each other waiting for the other to move first.

"Let's just do it," Alexa said. I nodded my head. I unscrewed the top of the shampoo and Alexa did the same. "Okay, at the same time, on the count of three. One…"

"Two…." I said.

"Three." Almost simultaneously we poured the colored liquids into our respective bottles. We both placed the caps back on and gave them a good quick shake and put them back in the same spots we took them from. Alexa looked at me with a huge beaming smile and said, "Mission complete. Now, let's get back to James' dorm before somebody wakes up and we get caught."

We inaudibly made our way out of our dorm and headed down to the ghostly quiet common room. We took residence on a couch and watched the burning red coals of the smoldering fire pulse as we waited for James to return. After battling off sleep for about ten minutes, we heard the faint sound of the portrait hole opening. James finally appeared and came over to where we were nearly passed out. He sat down on the couch in between me and Alexa. "The deed is done," he said still looking ahead. "The house elves were all too willing to help. How about you two?" he asked.

"It's done," Alexa mumbled leaning her head on James' shoulder.

"Smashing. Well, I guess all we have to do now is wait till tomorrow and get some sleep." My eyes started closing as James talked. Within a few minutes my head was too heavy to keep up so I laid it down on James' other shoulder. "Are you guys still awake?" I faintly heard James ask. I would have responded, but I was just too tired to talk, let alone walk back up to our dorm. So, instead of responding, I just nestled into the couch and fell into a deep sleep.

"What the hell is this?!" This shrill exclamation, is unfortunately how I woke up the next morning. My eyes flew open and looked around the common room. The only people who were in the common room at the time were me, James, and Alexa sitting on the couch that we fell asleep on, and Blair standing over us, a furious look displayed on her thin face.

"Blair, why are you yelling?" Alexa asked rubbing her eyes.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because when I came down into the common room I was a little surprised to find my two best friends asleep on a couch with the vermin that is my ex-boyfriend!" she exclaimed.

Alexa looked at James and I, "Right, I see."

"Will someone please explain to me what the hell is going on?" Blair asked irately.

"Well, you see," I began.

"No! You guys are so lucky that I'm refraining myself from ripping off all of your faces and making face jerky! I am so furious right now!" Blair screamed.

"Yeah, we can tell," James dumbly stated.

Flames ignited behind Blair's eyes, "Don't you dare get cheeky with me, James Potter. Get out of my face now!" James looked at me and Alexa and shamefully got up to go to his dorm. After James disappeared up the stairs, Blair turned back to us, "Explain," she stated coldly.

"Look, Blair, it really was nothing. We were up really late and none of us had the will power to go to our dorms and we all just kind of fell asleep here on the couch," I tried to explain.

"What were you guys doing up so late, together?" she questioned.

"To be honest Blair, yesterday, Bree and I sort of got in a heated dispute and she basically told me that she was going to destroy me. James saw all of it happen, so he offered to help me take her down before she had the chance to hurt me. I know that you hate him, but he offered to help, and he is really good at that kind of stuff. So, last night, we were busy planning our attack and we just fell asleep," Alexa added.

Blair sat there for a moment mulling over what Alexa had said. She came and took James' spot on the couch and said, "Okay, I believe you. It just caught me off guard to see all of you together asleep on the couch. So, did Bree really tell you that she was going to destroy you?"

Alexa and I smiled with relief. "Yeah, she really did," Alexa told her.

"So what did you guys come up with to get her?"

"Well, that, you are just going to have to wait and see," I said with a sly smile.

"Why didn't you guys tell me about all of this sooner?" Blair asked.

"We weren't sure if you would be mad about it or not. After all that stuff that happened with Bree and Andy Ablo giving you advice, we weren't really sure where you stood," Alexa honestly admitted.

"You guys know that I would never leave you. I mean, they gave some good advice, but I would never want to be friends with Andy Ablo or Bree, especially if they are trying to hurt you guys. They are total bitches." She pulled us both into a big hug. "So, you can't give me any idea as to what you guys are up to?"

"All I can tell you is that we got super personal, and this could potentially humiliate her into the next century," Alexa told her.

Blair smiled, "Well this should be quite interesting then. I can't wait."

After a few more minutes of talking about nothing in particular, Alexa and I headed up to our dorm to change our dirty clothes and then head down to the Great Hall for some breakfast and what we hoped was to be a show. When we got up to our dorm, Bree was no longer in her bed and the bathroom door was closed and the sound of water filled our ears. I turned to Alexa and smiled. Alexa came over to me and threw an arm around me and said, "Do you hear that?" she asked cupping her hand around her ear. "That, is the sound of liquid victory showering us with gratification. It's beautiful isn't it?"

"It's the greatest sound on earth," I replied.

After a few more minutes of savoring the sound of the pitter pattering water, we threw on a change of clothes and headed back down into the common room. Waiting for us in the common room were Blair, Sirius, James, Remus and Peter. Seeing Peter, knowing that some very private information was going to be revealed about him today, kind of made me feel bad for a moment about what we had done. But, don't worry, I'll get over it. I doubt Peter will even mind; I'm sure he'll be okay with the fact that the whole school knows that he is a man.

I walked over to Remus, who pulled me into a hug and placed a kiss on my forehead. "Did you have fun last night?" he asked.

"The most fun in the world," I replied smiling up at him.

"James tells me that you three slept together, any truth in that?" he asked arching an eyebrow.

I gave a sheepish smile, "Yes, indeed we did sleep together."

James ran over and put his arms around the both of us, "I told you Moony! Your girl wants me; it's got to be my magnetic charisma that draws her."

I shrugged out from under James' arm and put my arms around Remus' neck. "You know he's only kidding," I said patting him on his chest and giving him a kiss.

"Yeah, you have nothing to worry about Remy, James isn't even that good in bed," Alexa added jokingly.

James' mouth dropped to the floor in shock. "Oh, Prongs, mate, that has to hurt," Sirius jabbed.

James tried to shake of the comments by changing the subject, "Alright, you guys are hilarious. Can we go down to breakfast now? I don't want to miss anything." He gave a pointed look at me and Alexa.

We all made our way down to the Great Hall together. It was nice having the whole crew back together again. Blair seemed to be handling it very maturely; she totally got that from me. In the Great Hall, we took our regular seats at the Gryffindor table. In a matter of minutes, Bree would walk in through those doors, unknowing that her hair was orange and her skin was green. Then she would eat her eggs and blow up like a balloon. All we had to do was wait.

After a few moments of eating, I all of a sudden started hearing whispers. "Look at her hair!"

"She's green!"

"What a freak."

This was it. I looked over to the doors of the Great Hall, and sure enough, there was Bree walking in with orange hair and green skin, and she had no idea. I got James and Alexa's attention and nodded to where Bree was. Pretty soon the whole hall was watching her. Bree started to notice all the eyes and whispers surrounding her. She looked around and said, "What is your problem?" She sat down at her spot where there was a plate of eggs already waiting for her.

She picked up her fork, scooped some eggs on it and brought the fork to her mouth. The fork seemed to take an eternity to enter her mouth, but it finally did. One bite after another, she ate the whole plate of eggs. Most people had returned back to their meals, occasionally looking back at her; but our section of the table never moved our eyes.

As she wiped her mouth with her napkin and took a sip of her pumpkin juice, I could already see her becoming bloated. When she sat her goblet down, she must have noticed that her hands were bigger. She frantically examined he increasingly larger fingers, and then quickly noticed that her whole body was doing the same and that it was green. She then grabbed a piece of hair to twirl it, something she did when she got nervous, and noticed it was orange. She let out a deafening scream. People had now turned all their attention back to Bree.

Just as Bree was starting to really panic, the Great Hall was suddenly filled with swarms of owls with the post. I happened to notice that almost every single person was delivered a similar looking poster; I even got one. I took the piece of paper from my owl and unfolded it. My mouth dropped, as did everyone else's. I looked over to James who was just sitting there admiring his handy work. I looked to Peter next, who had also received this special post. He was blushing furiously as Sirius patted him on his back and congratulated him.

As she cried, Bree unfolded her own post and read the poster and people started laughing and pointing. She just sat there staring at the words that were ruining her reputation and humiliating her in front of the whole school. She sat the piece of paper down on the table and then turned her head to look down the table at us. Tears were streaking down her face and wrath was steaming from behind her eyes. She violently rose from the table and, as best she could, ran out of the Great Hall. The whole room was erupting with laughter. I felt bad for what we had done, but all human behavior is based on self-interest; and that is exactly what this was. We were just doing what was best for us; we had to protect ourselves from her. Granted, there may have been some alternative options, but what's done was done.

After the very eventful breakfast, I was still extremely exhausted from last night, so I decided that I was going to take a nap and just relax until lunchtime. When we made it back to the common room, I quickly made my way over to a couch and cuddled up with Remus who was going to read. Alexa and Blair said that they had some business to take care of, and to be honest, I was just too tired to care what they were getting into. Most likely, it was nothing good, but if I had to I would bail them out later after I had had a nap. Almost immediately after I laid my head in Remus' lap, I fell asleep and nothing was going to wake me up.

"Lyla." I faintly heard someone say in my dreams. "Lyls," they said again. "It's time to wake up, it's lunch time and James is getting restless." It was now that I realized that this voice wasn't in my dreams. I slowly blinked my eyes open and looked up to find Remus rubbing my arm. "Come on sleepyhead, let's go get you some food." I nodded my head as he helped my sleep heavy form get up off the comfortable couch and through the portrait hole.

Making our way to the Great Hall, I suddenly came back fully to reality. What had happened to Bree? Where were Alexa and Blair? How long had I been sleeping?

"No one has seen or heard any sign of Bree," James said, almost as if he had been reading my mind.

"And Alexa and Blair said that they had to do a few things and that they would see you at lunch," Remus added. Wow. Did everyone get the powers to read minds while I was asleep?

As we got closer to the Great Hall, James began to speed up and was now walking in front of me and Remus. After we entered the large open doors, we were both stopped by a large stationary form. I looked up to see that James had just stopped and was standing extremely still. "Prongs, what the hell mate?" Remus asked. James didn't answer, he just stood there. "James?" Remus asked again as we both moved around James to look at him.

James still didn't say anything, but he did raise his hand and pointed over to the Slytherin tables. When I looked over to where James was pointing, I realized why he stopped and was speechless. Sitting at the Slytherin table, amongst a large group of boys, were Blair and Alexa. Alexa looked pretty bored as she talked to some random Slytherins, but Blair was talking to one boy and they both seemed to be enjoying themselves quite a bit. The boy she was with, looked to be rather tall, had dark blond, short, curly hair, was rather muscular, and overall pretty damn good looking.

"It is the taste of betrayal," James said, looking furious.

Remus grabbed one of James' arms and started to pull him over to the Gryffindor table, I quickly followed. "Alright, come on James, let's just get you some food," Remus said. We finally made it to our seats and for the first time ever, James wasn't eating, he just kept his eyes on Blair and the Slytherin boy.

"It is the taste of betrayal," James repeated.

"No it isn't," Remus reasoned. "She is just talking to another boy."

"Yeah! And it tastes of betrayal," James spat back.

"You know, James, you shouldn't really even be mad, you broke up with her, remember?" I reminded him.

James threw me a scowl and then returned his eyes to Blair. Sirius came in and sat down at the table. "Hey, guys, what's going on?" he asked looking at James.

"Blair is talking to another boy, and James keeps tasting betrayal apparently," I explained.

Sirius looked over to where Blair was now laughing with the Slytherin boy. He turned back to face James and let out a hearty laugh right in his face. "Ha!" he said. "But you know, that's your own fault there mate." There you go; maybe he would listen to Sirius. Sirius laughed again and then took another look at the Slytherin table. He turned back hastily and now had a violent look on his face. "What the hell is Alexa doing over there?" he asked me.

"Well, it seems that she is talking to those boys over there at that table," I sarcastically replied.

"Yeah, that's my point. Why is she talking to those good for nothing jerks?" he asked again.

These kids amazed me. I looked at Remus who was just shaking his head. "I have no pity for either one of you," I said pointing to James and Sirius. "You both are getting crazy jealous over girls who you had or could have had, and you both chose not to keep them. You made your choices, and now you have to suffer the consequences."

Sirius looked back over to where Blair and Alexa were and then stood up suddenly. "Did you see that slime ball just hit on Alexa?" he asked pointing over to them. "Alright, I'm putting a stop to this right now." He strode over to the Slytherin table, grabbed both Alexa and Blair and was dragging them back to the Gryffindor table as they tried to fight him off. I just covered my eyes and shook my head. This was going to turn into a catastrophe very quickly.

"Let go of me!" I heard Alexa exclaim.

"Sirius, you unhand me this instant!" Blair demanded.

I uncovered my eyes just as the three of them approached the table. When they were standing in front of us Sirius released them from his grip. Alexa fixed the cuff of her sleeve and then punched Sirius in the arm, "What is your problem?" she asked.

Sirius rubbed where Alexa punched him and said, "What is your problem? Why were you talking to that Slytherin scum?"

"Well, for your information, they were actually rather nice," Sirius scoffed when Alexa mentioned this. "And not to mention really cute!" she added.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Sirius exclaimed.

At this point Blair and James had begun fighting and were now yelling. "I have every right to talk to other guys!" Blair yelled. "Last time I checked, you didn't want to date me anymore and we were broken up!"

"Who is that guy anyway? Do you even know him?" James asked unsuccessfully trying to mask his jealous rage.

"Well, of course I know him. That was the whole point of talking to him. I met him earlier today and he asked me to have lunch with him," Blair explained. "I don't even know why I'm telling you this. None of this is any of your concern. You had your chance James and you opted out." Go Blair!

James stuttered for a few moments trying to find the words to say, "Yeah, well, that's, that's just besides the point. He's a Slytherin, Blair! A Slytherin!"

"Well spotted," Blair sarcastically responded.

"But Blair, they are the enemy!" James pleaded with her.

"Oh, so you would be okay with it if I were talking to a Ravenclaw, a Hufflepuff, or even another Gryffindor?" she asked. Even I was curious to hear the answer.

"Hell no!" he responded.

"So, it's not about what house at all, you just don't want me to talk to any guys ever again. Am I hearing you correctly?" Blair asked getting really frustrated. I quickly looked over to where Sirius and Alexa were and naturally they were still at it, arguing about Merlin knows what by now. I turned back to Blair and James.

"Yep, that's pretty much what I'm saying. None of these guys deserve you, Blair," James told her.

Blair threw up her arms in anger and turned her back to James for a moment. She turned back to face him and paused for a moment. "You are unbelievable, you know that? One moment you don't love me anymore, and then the next you are getting jealous over me talking to other guys. I just don't get it."

James rubbed his temples. "Blair, I'm just trying to protect you," he said, with a certain sadness in his voice. Alexa and Sirius had stopped fighting and were now listening intently to James and Blair.

Blair looked like she was fighting hard to keep back her tears from spilling forward like waterfalls. "Well, stop trying to protect me. My heart can't take it anymore, James. My heart was once filled with love but now it's empty, and it's taking me some time to adjust. And by you trying to 'protect' me, it's making it really hard for me to deal with all of this. I hope one day we can be friends again, but I just need time. And talking to other boys is what's helping me cope right now. I know you may not approve of every guy I talk to, but let me deal with that, and when I want your help I'll let you know."

We all fell silent as we waited for any sort of response from James, but no such response came. James simply got up from the table and silently walked out of the Great Hall. Blair exhaled a large sigh and took a seat across from me where James had been sitting. Blair cradled her head in her hands and Alexa took residence in the seat next to her. Sirius took off after James and Remus followed after he placed a quick kiss on my cheek.

"B, are you all right?" Alexa asked placing her hand on Blair's back.

"Come on, Bear, look at us," I said, patting her arm. Blair slowly lifted her head and looked from Alexa to me. "Are you okay?"

Blair smiled, "Yeah, I'm fine, it's just draining. I feel a lot better actually."

After this, I asked the question that had been on my mind ever since I entered into the Great Hall what seems like ages ago. "So, Blair, who is that guy you were with?" I asked.

Blair's face brightened back to its usual sparkle. "Well, he's a sixth year Slytherin, he's super nice, and he's absolutely gorgeous!"

"What's his name?" I inquired.

"His name is Adrian Forrest. Lyla, you have got to meet him sometime. He's smart and just wonderful. And best of all, he helps me forget about James."

"Well, he sounds pretty fantastic," I said. "How did you meet him, anyway?"

Blair got a sort of embarrassed grin on her face, "Alexa and I were just walking around, and I started walking backward. Before you know it, I walked right into the gorgeous rock hard body of Adrian." Blair drifted off for a moment reliving the moment. She suddenly snapped back to reality, "So, yeah, it was pretty sexy."

Blair was ecstatic about her new boy, and I couldn't be happier for her. This was exactly what she needed. And by the looks of Adrian, I was sure that he would definitely help Blair forget about James. As we continued talking, I saw out of my peripheral vision Adrian getting up from his table and making his way to where we were sitting. "Um, Blair, your boy toy is headed this way," I said nodded in his direction.

Blair's face lit up and she started fixing her hair. "Oh my God, do I look okay?" she asked hastily.

Alexa fixed a stray piece of hair, looking over her shoulder to see how close he was. "You look great, oh, here he is!" she whispered the last part.

We all quickly pretended to be deep into conversation and acted like we didn't even notice he was there. We play it cool, what can I say. "Hey, Blair," he said standing behind Blair.

Blair waited for a moment and then acknowledged his presence. "Oh, hey, Adrian. I didn't even see you there," she shifted in her seat to look at him now. "This is my friend Lyla, by the way," she said signaling to me.

Adrian raised his hand to wave at me, "Nice to meet you," he said. I nodded my head in response. "I just wanted to see if you wanted to do something, maybe take a walk?" he asked. Aw, this was just too cute!

"Yeah, sure, I'd love to," Blair coolly responded. Adrian extended his hand to help her up from the table and they walked toward the exit of the Great Hall. As they neared the large opening, Blair turned back with a huge smile residing on her face and waved.

When Blair finally disappeared out of our sight, Alexa turned to face me and said, "Well, I'm not going to lie, he is dead sexy, and I totally thought about jumping him when I first saw him."

Wow. That's my sister; always the honest one. "I'm so glad you restrained yourself. I think Blair would have been a little pissed if you did that," I commended my sister.

She took in the praise and responded, "Yeah, tell me about it. I swear the things that I do for friends." What a martyr. I just laughed at her. We both got up from the table and started making our way back to the common room. When we entered the common room, we noticed Sirius and Remus sitting in two chairs that were facing each other, and they seemed to be in a deep meaningful conversation. We moseyed on over and took a seat on the couch that was located between the two chairs.

Sirius and Remus stopped conversing when they noticed we had taken our seats. "Well, hello there, ladies," Sirius said leaning back into the scarlet chair. "And where is your other third?" he asked.

"She's off canoodling with Adrian," Alexa said dreamily. "And, by the way, I'm still mad at you for manhandling me in front of the whole school," she said acting tough.

"Yeah, yeah, you know you love me," Sirius replied throwing a wink her way.

Alexa rolled her eyes, but I totally know she loved it. "And where is old Jamsie?" she asked.

Sirius rolled his eyes at her question. "I don't know. Probably off crying somewhere, feeling sorry for himself. He's being a baby," Sirius said harshly.

Alexa and I looked at each other a little bit confused. "Sirius, isn't that a bit cruel?" I asked.

Sirius' eyes widened as in shock that I even asked him that question. "No! He yelled at me. Moony and I went to try and talk to him, and he yelled at me. Like, he actually shouted… at _me_."

I just had to laugh, even Remus found it a bit amusing. "You're the one who is being a baby," Alexa told him.

"Oh, yeah, well, I think you're being a baby," Sirius retorted.

"That doesn't even make sense," she told him.

"Yeah it does!" Sirius whined.

Alexa stood up from her seat and said, "Whatever, you're being really annoying, so I'm going to go to the library and think about potentially studying, but I doubt that will actually happen." She started heading for the portrait hole.

Suddenly, Sirius got up as well and went to follow her. "I'm going with you," he said.

"Uh, no, you're not," she told him putting her hand out to stop him.

"Uh, yeah, I am," he said imitating her. "I'm going to show you just how annoying I can be."

"Whatever, do what you want, I don't care," she said nonchalantly. "See you later, Lyls."

And with that, Sirius and Alexa disappeared from the common room, leaving me and Remus alone. Remus got up from his chair and came over to the couch and sat down next to me. He put his arm around my shoulders and I leaned into him, making myself more comfortable. We sat there in silence for a few moments, and then the silence was broken by Remus. "So, the full moon is coming up soon," he said. At this, I sat up and turned to look him in the eyes. "I don't want to worry you; I just wanted to remind you won't get freaked out when I'm suddenly not around for a while."

"Well, is there anything I can do to help?" I asked being optimistic that he would let me go with him and the other Marauders the night of the full moon.

Almost as if he knew what I was thinking, he said, "Lyla, I still don't think it's a good idea for you to be there, it's too dangerous." I let out a huff, to show my disappointment as I leaned back into him. "But, I was going to ask for your help with something else, if you're interested."

I sat up again, anxious to see what he was talking about. "Of course I'm interested. What do you want me to do?" I asked.

"I was thinking you could help me make my Wolfsbane potion. You know I'm not all that good at potions and you're rather good at it, so I thought maybe you would like to help me. What do you say?"

My face lit up and I jumped at Remus to wrap him in a hug. I was so happy that he was actually going to let me have some part in his werewolf life. "Oh, you know I will be more than happy to help. Thank you for asking me," I said, smiling at him.

"I thought you'd be happy," he responded placing a kiss on my lips. "Alright, let's go ahead and start on it now," he said standing up and pulling me up with him. We went up to his dorm and we pulled out a small cauldron and a small trunk of potion supplies.

I grabbed two pillows off his bed, placed them on the floor by the cauldron, and took a seat on one of them. Remus returned to his trunk at the foot of his bed and riffled through it. When he finally found what he was looking for, he came over to where I was and sat down on the pillow I got for him. He opened the potions book he retrieved from his trunk, and flipped to a page that was already bookmarked. Handing me the book, he said, "So there are the instructions. It's a little challenging, but I'm sure it will be no problem for you." I gave him a smile and started reading over the text.

Reading the instructions, I quickly saw that the potion was a bit more difficult than I was used to, but I was pretty certain that I could pull it off. As I continued scanning the complex detailed steps, Remus began unpacking the trunk of supplies and setting them in organized piles on the floor. "Alright, first we need to put in some sliced flobberworms, skin of a fire crab, and mucous of a mountain troll. Wow, this sounds really disgusting," I added looking at Remus who was adding the already sliced flobberworms to the cauldron.

"You're telling me; the taste is rancid," he said, now pouring in a hefty sum of mucous. Remus lit a fire under the cauldron with his wand and began to stir the concoction in a clockwise rotation. I grabbed the book again and searched for the next step. We added the primary ingredients, the fire was lit, and it was being stirred; now we had to wait for the contents of the cauldron to turn a very precise periwinkle color. Apparently the color was key to the success of the potion.

"It says here, that while the potion exhibits a periwinkle color, we have to slowly add a vile of dragon tears," I told Remus.

He nodded his head, "Yeah, that's the part that always gave me trouble when I tried to make it. For one, I didn't even really know what periwinkle was," he admitted. "There is a short window of time to do it, and if you miss that window, the potion is ruined."

"How do you know if you did it at the right time?" I asked.

"If we add it at the correct time and speed, the potion will turn completely clear, if not, it will turn this disgusting brown color," he told me. I took the stirring rod from him to give him a break and continued stirring without pause. As I stirred, Remus looked through the numerous bottles scattered on the floor. He picked up a vile that was labeled, Dragon Tears, and uncorked it. "Thanks again for helping me," he said smiling at me.

I smiled, "It's no problem, I'm happy to help. So, who's made the potion for you before?" I asked, curious to hear the answer. It for sure wasn't any of the other Marauders because Merlin knows that they are atrocious at potions.

"Well, Lily has made it for me a couple of times, but I haven't really used the potion all that often," he responded and I nodded my head. I looked down at the potion in the cauldron, which was now a shade of blue that was the color of a clear sky right after a big rain. I continued stirring, anxiously waiting for the potion's hue to slip into the delicate shade of purple.

We both watched the potion transform from one shade of blue to another, and with each change, it was getting closer and closer to the shade we needed. Remus sat on edge, the vile of dragon tears in his hand, waiting for the exact moment to pour the contents of the vile into the cauldron. Almost in the blink of an eye, the potion had turned periwinkle. I looked up at Remus, who met my eyes with anxiety. "I think it's time," I said.

He looked down at the potion and then back at me, "Are you sure? We could probably wait a few minutes just to be sure."

I shook my head, "No, I don't think we should wait any longer. Now is the time."

Remus nodded his head, "Okay, okay." He quickly shifted onto his knees so he was sitting over the cauldron. "Alright, here we go," he said as he tipped the vile to begin pouring the dragon tears.

I shifted onto my knees as well and watched as he poured. "Wait, slow down, you're going really fast, do it a little slower," I told him. He immediately slowed the flow of the tears. When the vile was empty, we both got really quiet and waited for the potion to turn clear.

After a few moments, I got a little impatient. "How long is it suppose to take?" I asked.

Remus, eyes still on the potion, replied, "Any moment now."

Less than two minutes later, the potion turned crystal clear. "Yes," I said in relief.

"We did it," Remus said very pleased. He retrieved a ladle and scooped some of the contents to examine it.

Suddenly, the door to the dormitory, flew open and in ran Alexa and Sirius.

"You take your hands off my sister!" Alexa exclaimed.

"That's my boy!" Sirius yelled jovially.

Remus and I just sat there on the floor looking confused at the two people before us. After a few seconds, they too were sporting confused looks on their faces, Alexa's now as red as a rose. "Um, hey Alexa, Sirius," I said. They both waved sheepishly and then looked at each other. I knew Alexa had to be freaking out. For one, she hated lovey dovey affectionate moments, but she also couldn't stand awkward moments.

Alexa looked very uncomfortable, "Wow, that was shameful," she said looking down at the floor. "I'm just going to remove myself from this embarrassment, excuse me." She quickly turned and sprinted down the stairs out of the dorm.

Sirius, now alone, smiled and said, "Well, now that I see we were mistaken, I'll just head out; leave you two to whatever you're doing, which clearly isn't what we thought." He nodded his head, and then turned to follow Alexa. Once Sirius left, Remus and I looked at each other and laughed.

We cleaned up our mess, and returned all the supplies to their places. Remus bottled his potion and put it safely away in his trunk as I sat on his bed placing the pillows back. After he shut his trunk, he came over to where I was still seated on his bed and sat down next to me. He put his arms around me and pulled me closer to him. "I love you," he said, tilting my face up to his to kiss me.

"I love you too," I said against his lips before kissing him back.

We sat there for a few more moments and then he said, "You want to go make fun of Alexa and make her feel uncomfortable?" he asked.

I smiled and nodded my head, "Yeah, sounds fun." We both hopped off the bed, and went off to find Alexa, who was probably still blushing.

Is it wrong that I sometimes find joy in my sister's embarrassment?

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Prong's Note: So, people, I don't know about you but I loved it! My bestie is probably the most awesome coauthor one could have. Anyways, please bear with me while I work on the next chapter. I'm supposed to be reading a book for school and haven't started yet so the next chapter might not be here for a small bit. But, please leave a review and tell your friends!

Hope you enjoyed!


	15. Until the real thing comes along

Disclaimer: I don't own it, but if I did I would make it into a world with many happy endings!

Author's Note: Well, I am so sorry that this chapter took so long to get out, but I had so much other stuff going on. Also, I know it's not as long as the other chapters, but it's still about 11,000 some words so don't get mad. And please review and tell me what you think because this was really hard to write, especially the semi-serious Sirius Black. Hope you enjoy the chapter and such. REVIEW TOO! Peach out!

______________________

Until the real thing come along

Alexa's Point of View

"There's no way you can possibly resist my sex appeal, Alex." I scoffed while Sirius stretched with an over exaggerated revealing of his toned stomach muscles. I rolled my eyes, forcing myself to look away while still trying to remain tough. He laughed and then sat down again, his stance just oozing confidence as he spread his long legs out and put his arm around the back of the couch. If I didn't know better, I would have thought every female in the room swooned and landed on the ground. However, most of the people were falling because of the over indulgence in alcohol, but about half fell because the boy did in fact exude sexuality.

"Okay, and if for some reason I can't resist, then what's going to happen?" I gulped as a sly smile spread across Sirius' face.

"Then you're going to profess your love to me in the Great Hall. Oh, and trust me, you definitely will."

I took a deep breath before replying with a simple, "Game On."

Okay, rewind. Confused yet? That's what I thought. Let me give you the real story of what happened that Thursday night.

_Earlier That Day_

"Happy birthday dear, Lexi. Happy birthday to you!" I laughed as Sirius and James finished their rendition of the happy birthday song and blew out the cupcake that was sporting sixteen mini candles for me. "How does it feel to have joined the rest of the elite in being sixteen?" James asked as he slung his arm around me, banished the candles, and swiped a finger across the cupcake leaving a huge divot in the icing. I nudged him off of me and smiled as he stuck his finger in his mouth like, 'who me?' It was Sirius's turn to annoy me as he took a bite of the cupcake while I was distracted.

"Hey!" I protested and they both laughed at me as I hid my treat from their view. Honestly, the cupcake looked a bit dry and like it was probably left in the oven too long so I knew that the house elves couldn't have baked it. It was the thought that counted anyways, right. "It honestly doesn't feel any different than it did this morning when I was fifteen."

This morning when I woke up, I insisted that no one congratulate me on my birthday until it was my official time. 5:19 in the evening, to be exact. So when it was exactly 5:19, I left the safety of my bed room and went to the bathroom to look and see if I was any different. There was nothing that had physically changed about me, and I didn't feel any older than I had this morning. So it was kind of a let down when I realized that sixteen didn't really feel that different from fifteen. According to James and Sirius, though, tonight was going to make it all worthwhile.

"Well, that's just the way it is with every birthday, right? You don't actually feel anything until something happens and your like, wow, I can do this now." Sirius explained in an all knowing manner, grabbing my birthday cupcake from me when he saw me grimace as a piece literally _disintegrated_ in my hand. "I'll just take care of that for you." He said while trying to look inconspicuous as he passed it off to Remus who had just walked by us.

"Happy birthday, Alexa, I have your present upstairs. I'll be right back," He said in passing as he discreetly pitched the failed cake out the window. I smiled again and then felt someone slap their hands over my eyes. From the smell of the lavender perfume, I immediately recognized Blair.

"Guess who your best friend is, because I just got you the best birthday present in the history of the world." As she did every year, Blair had to out do herself from the last birthday gift she had given her friends. Last year, I got a monkey from her. Needless to say, that didn't work out so well. The year before that, it was a hairbrush that did so many things with your hair you'd never have to style it again. It worked okay for the first few days and then broke after it got stuck in my hair and we had to cut it out. I'll never know how it was broken, but I do know one day I came to the dorm to find the pieces in a pile in the trash. I don't ask questions.

She peeled her hands away and I turned around to give Blair a large hug. "That sounds familiar, kind of like what you said last year when I got the monkey." I gave her a slight smirk to let her know I was kidding as she punched my arm and laughed her tinkling laugh with me.

"How was I to know that they don't allow monkey's on the school grounds?" She asked while trying to look like she didn't actually know that that was a rule. Of course, she had known and the whole reason she got me the monkey was so she could see the look on McGonagall's face when she set the damn thing loose in the Common Room the day after my fifteenth birthday. We got in some trouble for it, but it really was one of the best times I've ever had with a birthday gift.

"It's not like it's in the handbook or anything, Bear." James said as he joined the conversation. I watched Blair closely to see her reaction, but she continued to play it cool despite the old nickname. They still kept a good amount of distance between each other, but it wasn't like they were screaming and trying to physically go at each other anymore. Blair sent me a look as Sirius sidled up next to me to lay his arm across my shoulder like an armrest.

I raised my eyebrows at him, but he ignored my look and addressed Blair instead. "I think you only did it so you could see how far you could push old Minnie before she lashed out and used her wand on the poor creature." James and Sirius laughed loudly at Blair's expense, only being interrupted when she socked James in the gut. Okay, so maybe she hadn't completely given up her tendency towards violence.

"Either way," I said nudging Sirius to stop his laughter, "It was a great birthday and I'm not sure you can top it although you may try." Blair efficiently raised one eyebrow at the challenge and then produced something from behind her back. "What is that? You got me paper for my birthday?" I asked with a joking tone, although I was still a little wary of whatever the gift may be.

Rolling her eyes, Blair handed me the three thin slips of paper. "Choose wisely in whom you want to bring along because I checked with your mother and she said that if any boys were asked," She was cut off as I screeched loudly and hugged her hard enough to break her bones. Then, I commenced my dance around the common room with Blair in tow and Lyla once we had grabbed her from the doorway.

"What are we dancing for?" She asked while turning crimson from embarrassment. I laughed maniacally and continued to skip around, grabbing James and taking part in a sloppy waltz/tango. He laughed along with me as Blair danced with Remus as she passed him.

"I'm taking that she liked her gift then?" He asked Blair as they spun and I nodded enthusiastically as James passed me off to Sirius and commenced the dance with Lyla. By the time we had worn ourselves out the people in the common room had either joined in the dance or had taken to ignoring us completely. "What did you get her?" Lyla asked breathily as she slumped onto the couch followed by Remus who sat in her lap and batted his eyelashes like a little girl.

I shoved Remus off my sister and then sat between them as Remus pouted and Lyla rolled her eyes. Taking a deep breath, I held up my present. "In my hand, I hold our future. The Rolling Stones are playing a show in upstate New York and I've got the tickets that we need to get in to the concert and go. Back. Stage!" Lyla stared blankly for a moment before looking at me and together we screamed, "Keith _Richards_!"

"Blair you are the shit, my friend." I said again and she laughed while Sirius, James, and Remus exchanged a glance. "The Rolling Stones are a band right out of London and they are so awesome. Plus, the lead guitarist is the most beautiful person I've ever seen. He's dark and mysterious and _bad_." I shivered like something was going on and then Lyla, Blair and me giggled like little first years.

Sirius huffed before coming to stand in front of me. "What's so great about a guitarist, huh?" I looked up to see the jealous look in his eyes and then over to where Remus was looking the same way at Lyla. James also looked a bit put out, as if after all that had happened Blair moving on to a rock star and leaving him back in school as someone that was like a test run was too much for him to bear. Not that Blair's that selfish, but that's just what he looked like.

"Not just a guitarist, Sirius, but a hot, bad boy guitarist and the hot pianist," Lyla said and with that Remus put in his two cents while we all laughed at the wound up boys. Remus stood, coming around to stand menacingly above Lyla and I. Cocking my head to the side, I sent him a questioning look, but he missed it while he was looking at Lyla. Blair, however, continued to snicker as she palmed my tickets because I would have definitely lost them by now.

"I guess what you're saying is that just because we don't play instruments we're not good enough. We are the Marauders," Remus annunciated, motioning to the other two boys flanking him. Then, with a fierce look in his eyes, he scooped Lyla up in an amazing show of strength and carried her away bridal style. "I'll show you what a marauder really is," He said as he carried her up the stairs to the boy's dorm, glaring at a little fifth year who probably crapped his khakis.

"So does anyone know what a marauder really is?" I asked and Sirius got a sly look in his eyes as he plopped down on the couch where Remus and Lyla had occupied and lying down with his head in my lap. As a reaction, my hands went to the top of his head, where I began to play with his hair. It was just a reaction and wasn't on purpose, but the look Blair gave me said otherwise.

James rolled his eyes and sat in an arm chair, taking off his glasses and rubbing his hands over his face. "Let's just say that when Remus and Lyla go upstairs alone, we don't go up to 'play' for awhile." My eyes got wide and my hands stilled as I watched James look at me from between his fingers. Sirius, noticing my stilled hands, stopped his purring and looked up at me through sleepy eyes. "Uhm, what? Why'd you stop?"

Like a shunned puppy, he nudged my hand with his head and I resumed playing with the silky strands.

"Let's just say that's not what I want to hear about my sister."

About three hours later, the party for my birthday was underway. Yet, even though I was the birthday girl and the surprising number of heartfelt congratulations that were coming my way, I was not a happy person. It seemed that everyone was having the time of their lives without me. Kind of like life was passing me by without my realizing it. But I knew it wasn't and I knew that the real reason that I was freaking out was because of Sirius.

Almost as soon as the younger kids were sent to bed and the doors to the party allowed entrance to the Common Room, letting everyone who had 'loot' as James said come in, he had latched onto a girl with a silky blonde ponytail and a skirt that was about two feet too short. I mean, honestly, it was the middle of December and most people in the castle take for example me, were wearing some stylish ripped jeans plus a forest green sweater that fit nicely but that wasn't too tight. Was it too much to ask that I got some attention from the boy I was…well, from one of my friends?

I sat dejectedly on the couch, next to a couple that was snogging furiously and would probably end up together tonight in a way that I wasn't familiar with, and a boy who was gazing listlessly at the rest of the party. I didn't know where my friends were because Lyla and Remus had gone to the makeshift dance floor after they came back downstairs looking extremely happy with themselves. Then James had taken off after a girl that had dark, black hair and was also sporting a too revealing spaghetti strap shirt. Sirius was already with another girl, who wasn't the one he had been with about ten seconds ago, and Blair was with Adrian and his friends. They were the only Slytherins here and were probably hiding out.

I sighed wistfully while staring into the fire and thinking about how your sixteenth birthday was supposed to be amazing, but it was turning out to be craptastic. Just as I was contemplating making a kitchen run, although we had tons of food here, the boy on the couch looked up at me. "Happy birthday, Alexa," The thick Australian accent said and I smiled my first genuine smile of the night.

Sitting next to me although I hadn't noticed was fellow Slytherin and Adrian's best friend, Finnegan Rhodes, or just Finn as he had informed me when we met. "Thanks, Finn. What are you doing here? Not that I mind, I mean," I said while he pouted his perfect pink lips and pretended to be hurt. "It's great to see someone who actually is having about the same time as I am."

"Not exactly everything it was chalked up to be?" the seventeen year old boy asked me and I shrugged my shoulders.

"It's just that I'm supposed to be having the time of my life, but I'm not." I sighed and then looked over in disgust as the couple next to us made an odd breathing noise. "Uhm, do you want to move somewhere else?" I asked as the entwined people started to grow louder and then I stood up quickly and grabbed Finn's hand. "Let's go."

He followed me willingly as I made my way over to where the drinks and snack foods were located. It seemed that here was a bit crowded as well, so with Finn being dragged behind me I sat myself down on the empty stairs leading towards the boy's dormitories. "Don't think you could just go dragging me up into a strange place, Alexa," Finn warned and I laughed as I rolled my eyes. He joined in the laughter and I noticed that while the laugh wasn't anything like Sirius' barking laughter, it was still pleasant in its own way.

Finn continued to talk and as he did so, I studied his features. He was probably about 5'10 or 5'11, so taller than me but not taller than James or some of the other boys in our age grouping. I knew he was a sixth year, but that he was also over a year older than I was because he hadn't started school early like a normal first year. His toffee colored brown hair fell just an inch or so over his forehead but was a little shorter in the back, and his eyes were an alluring shade of green. Kind of like a sea green that you would find in a multi-colored box of crayons.

His nose was a little crooked, but it was that slight bend that made him attractive. His jaw was pretty prominent, but nothing like that of Sirius's very aristocratic features. Which is a good thing, I reminded myself as I nodded to whatever Finn was talking about. While his Aussie accent rolled over me, I tried to imagine the pristine beaches and flowing surf that his voice seemed to almost promise.

I was about to ask Finn about the part of Australia he was from when someone plopped onto the stair below me and placed their head in my lap. I sighed as the weight shifted and I stared down into Blair's chocolate brown eyes. "Yes, Blair," I questioned as she looked from Finn and to me and then to the small amount of space between us. I cleared my throat as Finn continued to look with raised eyebrows to Blair.

"Right. Hello there, Finnegan. Adrian said he wasn't sure if you were going to make it tonight or not." Blair seemed pleasantly interested in what he was going to say and then before he could speak she moved on to the next subject in typical Blair attention span. Turning to me, she said, "Lyla and James have a present for you and they told me, none to politely by the way, to bring you to the middle of the Common Room. I told them that they were being pushy, but then James threatened to tell everyone my middle name and I had to come get you. So if I could steal her away," She left the question hanging as Finn tried to process and then wrapped her thin hand across my wrist.

"Just say yes, Finny, I'll be back in a few and it's best if you don't try to understand her logic." Finn nodded and I laughed at him as he stood up and scratched his head, looking every bit like he should be on the outback with his button down flannel shirt and beat-up jeans. As Blair dragged me away, I noticed we most definitely weren't going to the center of the room. "Uh, not that I think you can't tell directions," I started but Blair cut me off and pulled me into a shadow.

Letting go of my wrist, she turned and looked at me with wide eyes. "What are you _doing_?" She questioned and when I looked at her, putting on my best confused face, she sighed as if she had to explain quantum physics to the birthday monkey from last year. "Sirius is _all over_ that girl with the super-short mini, that wouldn't look bad if she had that purple top I got last year in London and if she had the legs for it, but who am I to judge. And anyways, the shoes she was wearing before she tossed them onto the dance floor like a fool were totally off color," My mouth dropped open as my fashion mogul best friend rolled her eyes.

"Sorry, lost my focus. What I'm trying to say is how are you letting the boy we all can see you are attracted to mess around with a prostitute while you do nothing about it and mope in a corner? It's your _sixteenth_ birthday for Merlin's sake; have some fun!" She took a breath and once again it took me a moment before I could fully respond.

"First of all, wow, how the hell did you say all of that in one breath? Secondly, I don't like Sirius and it's his choice if he decides to get herpes from that girl. Thirdly, I wasn't moping around; I was with Finn and we were talking." I took another deep breath to make sure this last point really stuck. "And last, but not least, I do. Not. Like. Sirius. Okay? I won't put myself in that situation again."

Blair looked at me cross-eyed for a moment before starting her next attack. "The fact that you said that twice only proves my point more. Just go tell him how you feel, please, and let the rest of us stop having to hear about him from you and you from him. It gets so annoying after awhile." Flipping the ever present, super-high ponytail she had adopted over her shoulder, she looked at me as if any moment I would take her advice and go jump the ebony haired boy.

"You are a complete psycho." I told her and then sighed, "I don't want to date him until he gets his act together anyways, Bear, and you know how it is. I'd have to break his face in if he messed with me again, and I can't afford to have my knuckles mended. Again." I said while trying not to laugh while thinking about the incident in my fourth year. Someone, aka Sirius, had gotten a little too close at one of our 'arts' practices and I had socked him in the nose, breaking his effectively and splintering one of my knuckles. That boy was the definition of 'hard headed.'

"Well, you are a stubborn stupid head then," She said as if this would solve anything. Then she rolled her eyes and led me towards the center of the room where everyone was congregated and most likely waiting for the birthday girl. "We shall just have to settle this later after the party." My next words were drowned out as a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday to You was begun. I blushed as Lyla came up to me and handed me a birthday tiara with green rhinestones to match my sweater. I put the crown on and watched as they finished the song with a loud, 'To YOU.'

"You guys are the best," I said and I really meant it. There was a moment of hesitation before a huge, common room group hug was started and we all marshaled in around the center which held me, Blair, and Lyla. The three musketeers. When the love was finally passed around, James and Lyla stood back with Remus and a now girl free Sirius, to reveal the surprise. As they lifted a sheet off a large barrel looking contraption, I stayed silent and then confused. "What exactly is it?"

James opened his mouth to regally tell me what my present was when someone in the room shouted, "Keg!" Looking put out, James laid an arm across the keg and patted the top of it. "Yes, my good people, this here is a key filled to the brim with the best brew in town. And the first drink will go to our youngest and best friend, Alexa Parker!" He used his announcer voice and then produced a cup of 'brew' from a nozzle on the side. Handing me the cup, they all waited as I took a sip.

I didn't know much about alcohol, or how to actually get the stuff down, but I felt as though I would put on a show for my audience. The one thing I did know, however, that whatever was in this cup would be seriously lethal if ingested. I took a drink, gagging as the stuff went down and almost throwing up when I looked at the dark green liquid. "What the hell is that?" I asked in a throaty, dry voice as I tried not to cough what would most likely be fire.

James laughed and looked at Lyla warily as he filled another cup. "Well, we didn't really know what was what and our supplies were running low so we just threw everything in there." He blushed as I gave him a disbelieving look. "No one actually tasted it before you so we weren't actually sure what it was."

"Using me as a test subject, James, and then saying that it's my birthday present is not actually a present," I told him but to make up for it I took another sip and tried not to grimace. Once you got over the immediate, holy crap what just went down my throat, it wasn't too bad. Kind of tart and fiery at the same time. I had the suspicion that probably some vodka and maybe a little fire whiskey had been mixed in. "Well, what are you all waiting for?" I asked as everyone continued to mill around awkwardly. I would not have an awkward birthday. "Let's get this party started. Drinks all around!"

Everyone set into motion and as I felt another hand on my shoulder, I looked up to see Sirius standing behind me with a cup and a smile. "It really isn't too bad is it? Lyla and James didn't do to bad of a job," He said while I refused to look at him. "Something wrong, Alexa, you seem kind of pissed. Did I do something wrong?" He asked while racking his brain, most likely for something offensive he had done to me since this afternoon.

"Where's the skirt?" I asked instead of answering and he looked at me as if I had grown a second nose. Turning back away from him, I walked over to where a large group of guys were standing. Some of them looked a bit like douche bags, but at this point I wasn't going to care. I told myself not to look back at Sirius as a few of them wished me happy birthday and then struck up a conversation with me. I couldn't hold myself to my order though, as I looked back at him knowing that if he really liked me he would be watching.

I laughed and then glanced over my shoulder, trying to act like I knew what the boys in front of me were talking about. Sure as I lived and breathed, Sirius was watching but acting coy as if he wasn't. A little part of me felt invigorated, while an even bigger part felt disgusted as the short skirt girl came back with two cups, pouring the rest of Sirius's cup into another and giving it to him. Rolling my eyes, I looked back at the guys in front of me, realizing that they were all from Ravenclaw and I had no idea who they were.

After a few minutes of me pretending to listen and the common room turning into an all out rave, I excused myself from the jocks that were practically fighting about who they'd be shacking up with tonight (hello, I was right there! Could they have some respect?). As I made my way towards where the keg was located, I drained the last of my first cup and poured another one. Why did all the boys in the world have to be so stupid? The one that I really liked dated my best friend, the one I thought I could really like asked me to stop being friends with one of my guy friends and then called me a whore, and every other guy at Hogwarts only wanted one thing.

After standing around the keg and finishing about half of my cup, I topped myself off and then went to sit a little unsteadily on the couch. "Not much luck with the boys, Alex?" A voice next to me asked and I looked over to see Lyla looking into her glass. I nodded, sighed, and then leaned my head back against the arm rest of the couch. My hair was probably being crushed, ruining the curls I had tried to perfect instead of leaving them wavy, but at this point I no longer cared.

"It's okay. Thanks for my present by the way; even though this birthday has pretty much been a waste, it was still a great gift." Saying that my birthday wasn't what I expected out loud really made me want to make everything better. Taking a large swig of my drink and crushing the cup, I slapped my hands on my knees and let the alcohol go to my head. "Let's get the gang together to play a game."

"What like truth or dare," Lyla questioned and then got a smile on her face, "Or more risky like have you ever and instead of fingers we'll use cups." I smiled at her and she leapt off the couch, obviously being able to retain her balance despite the drinks. I saw her wrestle Remus away from a group of guys he was talking to, bringing a few of them with her as she did and then she found Blair and Adrian on the dance floor. Deciding that I would do some helping, I quickly found James and Finn near the drink station.

"Start filling glasses boys, we're playing a game and the loser has to drink." Finn smiled at me, and then waved his wand so almost ten glasses filled with liquid. "Or you could just do that. Take them to the couch when you're done and ask whomever you want to join us." James immediately began to fill the glasses with Finn and then as Finn levitated them to the coffee table between the couches, James went in search of Sirius and whatever girl he was with at the moment.

When everyone was gathered at the couches and situated, we lined up a glass in front of each person. I myself was situated between Blair and Finn, across from James who was glaring daggers at Adrian who was next to Blair. Sirius, Lyla, and Remus were on the couch across from us while a few of the other people were situated in armchairs and on the arms of the couches. "The name of the game is have you ever. If you've done whatever the person decides to ask, you have to drink. If you haven't done it, then you don't drink." Lyla explained and everyone looked a little warily around.

Obviously, the game was meant to see where everyone stood and therefore could get a little tricky if something was asked that you didn't know about you're friends before. I looked over at Sirius who was looking at his glass knowing he'd be finished with it soon and probably trying to gauge his strength; then to Lily who had also joined us and was looking into her cup and most likely wishing she could walk away now without looking like a prude.

"Well, birthday girl; start us off." James said while looking at me and lifting his untouched cup in salute. I looked around me to Blair who gave me an encouraging nod and then I tried to think of something that wouldn't get me in trouble. Smiling, I went with a very easy one.

"I've never kissed a girl." All the girls laughed, except for the one that Sirius was planning to sleep with, as the boys all took drinks and then grimaced. "Sorry, I had to start with something to ease us all in and if I don't have to drink it's a plus too." The order of the game went to my left, and Blair got ready to take up her challenge. Adrian whispered something into her ear and she laughed before addressing all of us.

"Okay, well I've never gotten caught helping myself out a little, if ya' know what I mean." This time I laughed loudly as with shrugs, a few of the people surrounding us took a hefty drink. Adrian skipped his turn choosing to drink instead and the pass went to Sirius' friend. "Well, I've never gotten a std." she said stupidly.

There was an awkward silence until James cleared his throat. "Okay, moving on," Lily was next and she seemed to be racking her mind until she came up with one.

"I've never dated a boy who wanted to kiss my best friend." My eyes widened as a few people laughed uncertainly and took a drink. I picked up my drink, looked at it, and then set it back down. Someone cleared their throat and I looked up to see Bree and Andy standing behind our little drinking circle.

"You didn't exactly take a drink, now did you?" Bree asked me while running a hand over Sirius's shoulder that she was standing behind. He flinched and then gave a sigh as I picked my drink up and took a deep drink. "Thanks for inviting us, Lindsey; I was barely aware that it was Alexa's birthday. Hope you don't mind that we dropped by but I left you a present." Bree said and I rolled my eyes.

I was about to cut in when Blair saved me. "I'm pretty sure that you're still in Gryffindor and you've been Alex's best friend since first year. So save us the crap and sit down if you're going to join. But you'll have to go last." I tried not to make a fuss because Blair wants to make everyone happy so I let the she-devil stay. "Sirius, we've all taken a drink, now it's your turn." Taking a deep breath and rolling his shoulders, Sirius turned to everyone.

"I've never had to seduce someone into kissing me." That conceited bastard just smiled at us all and then I spoke up. Everyone looked at me before putting their glasses on the table as I stood up and pointed at Sirius. He looked at me questioningly before I told him what I knew was right.

"You tried seducing me." With a scoff, Sirius laughed and I had another comeback. "You did, right before Lyla and Lily talked about something. We were in an alcove and you tried to get me to kiss you but I didn't. So you tried and most definitely failed." I left Remus out of the little explanation, obviously keeping Lily and Lyla safe because Andy wouldn't get suspicious that way. I also left out the part where I had swooned because of Sirius's seducing.

Suddenly it was like everything about him had caught up with me and made me mad. Especially what he said next. "There's no way you could have possibly resisted my sex appeal, Alex." I scoffed while Sirius stretched with an over exaggerated revealing of his toned stomach muscles. I rolled my eyes, forcing myself to look away while still trying to remain tough. He laughed and then sat down again, his stance just oozing confidence as he spread his long legs out and put his arm around the back of the couch. If I didn't know better, I would have thought every female in the room swooned and landed on the ground. However, most of the people were falling because of the over indulgence in alcohol, but about half fell because the boy did in fact exude sexuality.

"Want to bet?" I blurted out before I could stop myself. What the hell was I thinking? Just seeing him there I wanted to jump his bones and now I was going to get screwed over. Sirius stood up as well. "How much do you want to bet on this, Alex?" He asked while lowering his voice and doing the thing where he sent out sex appeal in waves. Suddenly his eyes were darker too.

"You resist all girls for one week starting tomorrow," I saw him smile and look at James, the look passing between them saying that this would be all too easy. "And if you can do that I'll go on a date with you without any seduction and if I kiss you without that I'll admit defeat. But if you lose then I want you to tell the whole school about what a girl you are and you have to do whatever I want you to do. For two weeks, and trust me, my room needs to be cleaned so bad and I hate laundry."

"You'll also have to keep your hands off of me for the duration of that week." He spoke and then smiled with a way I didn't want to know the inner thoughts of his sadistic mind. "And if you lose then you have to profess your love to me in the Great Hall. Oh, and trust me, you definitely will."

I took a deep breath before replying with a simple, "Game On."

------------------

"Students! Can we please try not to blow up anymore cauldrons today? What is wrong with everyone?" Slughorn's usually jovial attitude was absent Friday morning when we finally got through double Transfiguration and into double potions. The color of his face turned a dark shade of red that faded eventually to puce as Frank Longbottom blew up the bottom of his cauldron. Not only was it the second time it had happened to him today, but three people had also had their potion leak over the table and burn a hole through the floor.

Today was obviously not a good day, seeing as it was the morning after we had all gotten drunk out of our minds and then came to class with little to no sleep. I knew of at least three people that were still sauced, and while the hangover I was nursing made me want to jump out a window, it was nothing compared to Sirius and James's raging head trauma. Actually, I'm pretty sure they both wished they were just still drunk.

Last night while the game took a turn to truth or dare, James and Sirius got into a dare-off and proceeded to see who could hold their liquor the best. Turns out both boys are exceptional at the game until they regurgitate the night's blessings. Lily and I had gotten stuck with the job of taking the boys to their dorms, with Blair acting as if she wasn't affected by the fact that Lily didn't seem to mind taking care of her ex-boyfriend. I had unceremoniously dropped Sirius into his bed, figuring that this didn't take part in our bet and then got ready to leave when I saw Lily helping James out of his shoes.

My heart was momentarily struck, until I saw James's socks and was repulsed again. Definitely going to be buying him an industrial pack for Christmas Holidays.

Anyways, so now we were sitting in potions having had to suffer through Transfiguration where I'm sure McGonagall knew what was going on but was punishing us by talking extra-loudly and assigning too much homework for normal. Sirius gave groan as Lyla thumped him on the back of the head, and even I winced as he looked up and his red-rimmed eyes and sleep mussed hair looked too heavy for his head. Though, even with a massive hangover, he still pulled off the sexy, bad-ass look. Jesus, look at my sentimental crap.

"Sirius, if you want me to continue to be part of this group, I'm going to ask you to pull your weight." I gave Lyla a disbelieving look as even the whisper shout she was using seemed to cause the people surrounding us pain. James let out a whimper as he lightly touched his forehead to the desk beside ours.

"Give me a break, Lyls; I'm dying over here," Sirius croaked with a voice that sounded as if he had recently ingested large amounts of fire. This probably wasn't far from what he had actually digested. "Besides, it's not like I'm actually an asset to the group most days." he muttered and I laughed, the sound playing too loudly in my ears and probably killing most of the Gryffindors in our class.

"You can work up there with Remus if you want, Lyla. I've got it covered back here and his partner looks as if she just died." I nodded up to the girl Remus was studiously ignoring and who didn't seem to notice that her ponytail was lying in a bowl of squeezed floberworms. Delicious. Lyla readily left our table, seeming to have already gotten over her hangover, and sat pleasantly next to Remus. Slughorn looked up and then rolled his eyes, probably thinking that Lyla and Remus were the only sane ones today.

Sirius raised his eyes to me from his position at the table and it took all my willpower not to smack that silly smirk off his face. "Thanks for taking care of me, Alex; it's like you actually care. Plus with McGonagall making me your tutor since everything happened with Dearborn; I actually want to let you know that I'm sorry about all that, but that I'm also grateful that you valued our friendship."

Friendship, I told myself as I put ingredients in the cauldron without really comprehending what was going on. "Yeah. I don't really hate you either, Sirius." I said out loud, while in my head I was thinking_ really, you act like you want to get in my pants and then tell me that you value our _friendship_? What the hell is that about?_ Our cauldron started to bubble and I took this as a good sign as I began to stir. Sirius continued to watch me as I zoned out and began to muse on my feelings.

Admittedly, I had a good time with Sirius, but I was still almost positive that it was all just a game to him. Just like this had been for the last five years of my life, considering that in first year we weren't even friends. The more important point to this, however, was the fact that I was finally going to come out and say that I full out liked him. I couldn't say this now though, not with the fact that I challenged him to stay away from girls for a week. What was I thinking?

"Ms. Parker!" A shriek cut through the air and my ear drums, causing many heads to pull up and I looked around to come face to face with a large stomach. Following the stomach up and around many chins, I finally was looking in the face of my teacher. "What, my dear, did you put into that cauldron?" I looked down to see that the cauldron had caught fire when I was stirring and hadn't seemed to notice that the bottom of the cauldron was obliterated.

"Well, sir, just the ingredients on the board." I said, perplexed that I had actually ruined a potion. I wracked my brain for anything I may have missed before and then saw something poking out from behind Sirius's ebony locks. "Except for the wings of the flies," I groaned and then clenched my fists as I went to move the boy who was covering them. I looked up at Slughorn who was looking pretty outraged by this point.

Taking matters into his own hands, he thumped Sirius on the back which immediately got him up and then took the wings into his hands. After throwing them into the jacked up potion, which flared once and died with the inclusion of wings, he turned to look at Sirius and I, while I blushed darkly and Sirius looked weary. "Detention; tonight at 8 o'clock since you seem to be incapable of following directions. What is wrong with everyone today?" He asked no one in particular as he vanished our potion and walked away from our table.

Putting my aching head in my folded arms, I groaned into the table. There was only a moment before I heard a slight laugh from next to me and I peered through my lashes at my partner. "Detention on a Friday night, Sirius; every teenagers dream." I sighed again and then resumed my position muttering, "Detention on a freaking Friday." The laughing started again and finally I gave in and looked up. "If you're laughing at me I might have to kill you despite the bet."

"You wouldn't want to lose just yet, and I was laughing at Lyla and James," He motioned towards the table that the two were at now, and I realized that they were running interference between Bree and Blair. My heart leapt in my throat until I saw that the obviously had it under control. "Why are they so keen on keeping Blair and Bree away from each other? I mean, I know there's some bad blood between you and Bree, but what about Blair? Isn't she nice to everyone?" I nodded while continuing to stare at what could potentially ruin my friendship with Blair.

When I looked back at Sirius, I almost spilled my guts when I looked into his smoldering eyes (which he was probably doing on purpose) but then refrained. Keep it cool, Alexa. "Maybe they've figured out that Bree really isn't a good person. I mean, you heard what she said that day in the alcove when she didn't know we were there," I left it at that and then continued to watch as Lyla turned around and sent me a pointed look. The situation was finally diffused and Bree gave up and returned to her partner, a geeky looking Ravenclaw who was already bottling their brew.

"Whatever. Don't tell me, but don't expect me to not find out sooner or later. Besides, I know James had something to do with the prank that was pulled on Bree last Saturday." Once again, I let the cool façade down for just long enough. "Please, that skin dye was mine for a special occasion, but if it was used there must have been a good reason."

"Maybe I'll tell you about it one day." I mused in my teacher voice. Sirius groaned and rolled his eyes before something dropped on the table in front of our no longer useful cauldron. "What be this?" I questioned in a piratical voice as Remus smiled down at us.

"Not trying to break up the love fest," Both Sirius and I made faces at this note. Just because I thought I had feelings for him doesn't mean that I wanted to refer to it as that. "But this here is a hangover potion. Guaranteed to fix you up so you're better for the rest of the day. I can't believe I forgot about it until now. I've had it all morning." There was a sly look in his golden eyes and I raised my eyebrows. Once a marauder, always a marauder.

Sirius sighed in relief, having already put the bottle to his lips and taking a swig. "Terrible going down but effective immediately." He said and then slapped the bottle on the table in front of me. "Knew we could count on you, Moons." They exchanged a marauder handshake, clasping hands a little below the elbows, and then Remus nodded at me and went back to his seat before he could be given a detention as well.

"Bottoms up," I mumbled as I took a draught (fancy word!) of the potion. It seemed like warm water was being trickled down me and I immediately felt better but for the terrible taste in my mouth. Already I could feel the color returning to my cheeks and the weight in my head being lifted so I knew it was golden. "A couple more hours of sleep and I'll be fine." I said in amazement as I handed the bottle back to Sirius, making a show of not touching his hand on accident in the process.

Another sly look came over this marauder, and I prepared myself for what was next. "Need any company?" He inquired and I rolled my eyes instead of answering. Sooner or later he was going to have to pay for all his little asides; and because I was that kind of person that time was going to be today.

"I think I'll be okay. Besides, are you ready to lose on the bet so soon because I don't have enough chores yet for you to do. But I could think of some, I guess." I baited him. He brushed off the attempt with a flick of his head to rid his eyes of his hair.

"That's alright, besides you don't have to touch to sleep." I looked away from him as he looked at me with a glance that made me think differently. Clearing my throat, I glanced at the clock, trying to count the minutes until the bell would signal the end of class. As Sirius took out a worn piece of parchment, the Marauder's Map as I remembered, I watched the minute hand of the clock tick slowly around.

After what seemed like longer than just ten minutes, the bell sounded and Slughorn dismissed us while reminding us of detention that night. My sour mood disappeared, however, as I caught up with Blair, Lyla, James, and Remus outside the classroom. Sirius had gone on ahead and I practically drug my friends to get a good seat to the hell that was about to be unleashed for Sirius.

You see, according to what I had wrestled out of James last night, every guys wish was to have a romp with more than one female partner. A ménage à trois if you would be so kind. So, for payback and to make sure Sirius lost the bet, I asked two of the most promiscuous girls in the year ahead of us to set this up for me. Plus, I really needed someone to clean my part of the room before Lyla and Lily, the clean freaks in our year, came after me with pitchforks. Now after potions and before lunch, Amber and Cassidy were waiting in their too short uniform skirts and too tight shirts with undone robes for Sirius outside of the Great hall.

I, personally, wanted to see his reaction. And if this afforded me a look into whether he cared enough about getting a date with me to turn them down, then so be it. Right on cue, the girls stepped out of the shadows and with that one motion, Sirius stopped as his eyes were immediately drawn to the exposed skin. Our little group stopped as well to see what would happen.

Some dialogue was exchanged as Remus and James practically strained to hear what was being said. At one point it looked like Sirius was seriously panting with the effort to restrain himself from going after the two girls and doing the deed right here. While Blair and I cackled at Sirius's effort, Lyla pinched Remus on the arm and then grabbed his ear as she brought him down to face level.

"If you even are thinking about what those two whores would be like, I will physically rip you apart and then put you together again with different pieces." My sister threatened her boyfriend. It was comical to see this short girl physically hassle her much taller lover boy, but Remus seemed generally nervous about it. Although, despite her size Lyla could pack a mean right hook, so I would be wary as well.

"Come on, Sirius; we're so lonely and bored," Cassidy was saying as she snuck nearer to him.

"We could help you get rid of all that tension before the Quidditch season starts back up after holidays," Amber then cooed as she got dangerously close to touching him. She was reaching out to grab his biceps as he jerked back, putting him up against the wall with the two cougars surrounding him. "Please, Sirius?" They asked together and he closed his eyes while he groaned with the effort to say no.

I watched as they almost got close enough to have contact, but under the orders that I had given them, they refrained. As Sirius continued to shake his head back and forth in a no motion, Amber and Cassidy finally gave up. Sending him a sensual wink, they remained unaffected as they walked straight up to me. "Sorry, Alexa, we tried. His willpower must be amazing. Or maybe he's gay," Cassidy mused as she extended her hand to me.

Reaching into my pockets, I pulled out a galleon for each of them. "Twas worth a try, I suppose," I told them before handing each of them their pay. Prostitution, you may ask? No, they weren't sleeping with him and they weren't really helping me cheat either so it was all legal. Trust me; I did my research this morning/last evening. As the two girls walked away already searching out their next prey, I turned to my laughing friends feeling considerably lighter. So much for my allowance being saved up.

"You are truly crazy, my friend." James said as he looked at Sirius who was watching me in disbelief. I walked with my friends to the Great hall, picking up Sirius as we went. "You definitely don't know what you're getting yourself into, Lex." Sirius said while grabbing some food and sitting in on his plate, which he then moved down the table a bit and pulled out a good piece of paper and a quill. As he began to plot his plan to 'take me down' I laughed openly.

"So, detention with Slug tonight. Maybe he'll just have you redo your potion," Lyla said while changing the subject. I shrugged and began to eat while I watched my opponent work diligently on something at his side of the table. Little did I know that detention was going to be one hell of a time.

--------

Waiting outside the common room for Sirius so we could walk to detention was like waiting for test results on something you weren't sure about. I had the feeling that I usually got when I was taking a test in Arithmancy and hadn't studied until the night before. Seeing as I hadn't talked to Sirius since that tense moment at lunch, and I had a feeling that if I knew who he really was I had a night in store for me. Nervousness began to overtake me as the tell tale noises of his footsteps began to thump down the stairs.

"We're going to be late if you don't hurry it up, Black." I said trying to act normal as he stopped at the bottom of the stairs, pulling on his robe over his plain t-shirt and jeans. His sneakers squeaked loudly as he careened to a halt before he ran into me. I pulled back as well before either one of us could ruin the bet by running into each other. "What were you doing up there anyways?"

He righted himself and then ran a hand over his hair to get it out of his eyes. It fell back into place almost immediately. "Do you really want to know?" Sirius asked in a seductive tone. I rolled my eyes and resisted stomping on his toes as I waved to Blair who was sitting on the couch doing her homework and led the way out of the common room. "Oh, come on. I was just taking a shower because I had to get the alcohol smell off of myself."

This was almost just as bad as he mentioned himself in the shower. _Get a grip on your hormones, Alexa_. I thought to myself as we made our way down the winding staircases, ignoring the pictures on the wall and their leading comments. "Well, if you hadn't drank so much of that killing liquid you wouldn't have been in such bad shape this morning." Sirius raised his arm as if to jokingly push me and then stopped himself, putting his hand across his chest instead.

"Be still, my beating heart," He responded to my jibe with an old, proper English accent that probably wasn't that far from his mother's. "It's actually not such a big deal. If I wasn't playing that damn game with James I would have been better this morning. Besides, you didn't look to grand yourself." Giving him a look, I sped up and counted through my head all the stars that we had learned in Astronomy so far. This calming effort was halted as the boy caught up to me in a few short strides.

Sirius continued to stare at me all the way down the winding corridors that led to the dungeon, only stopping when Slughorn pulled the doors open after my too hard knocks. "Excellent, and not a minute late," He proclaimed as he led us inside and over to where a row of potions were brewing. "This cauldrons have been bubbling since the beginning of the year. Since I can't find anything to use them for I'm just going to throw them out. What I want you two to do is clean them out once the potion is gone."

My eyes widened when I realized what the bottoms of those cauldrons would look like. "Excuse me, professor, but won't that be almost impossible. It seems like that potion there is an aging potion and if it's been brewing there for so long it's going to be caked to the bottom in layers." The look on Slughorn's face said it all and I felt my heart sink. This was going to be no easy detention, especially with Sirius there to torture me.

"Sorry, Ms. Parker, but this is the punishment I saw fit to give you both. Now, you may leave here at ten and there is a note on my desk for you should you get stopped." He began to make his way to the door and I looked around helplessly. Sirius was already leaning up against the potion table, smirking at me. Most likely the wheels inside of his big head were turning, thinking up a way to get me back from earlier. Taking one last look at Slughorn's retreating form I realized that I was in some deep trouble should our teacher not come back. As if reading my mind, he added, "I should be back before the detention is over, but if I'm not then make sure you lock up."

With that my only saving grace left the classroom. Before the door even shut, Sirius had given me an evil smile and was advancing towards me, shuffling between the desks and getting closer while just looking like he was meandering around. Like an animal running from its predator, I began to move around as well, trying to make it to the empty cauldrons without having to come into contact with Sirius. Finally, I had made it and Sirius had seemingly given up and was lying across a longer desk with his arms behind his head.

Feeling my anger bubbling up, I put my hands on my hips and turned to face him. "We should probably get started if we want to be done in two hours." With a wave of his hand, Sirius went back to ignoring me. I rolled my eyes, turning back to the disgusting row of cauldrons and pulling on the pair of gloves that were sitting next to the table. Taking the chisel, I began to chip away at the disintegrating pot while trying to remove the remnants of potion.

As I was really getting into the cleaning process, there was a sudden movement to my left and as I swung around, the chisel slipped from my hand making me fall and slicing my arm on the inside of the pot. I thanked the heavens that what I fell into wasn't the aging potion because I really didn't want any of that left over stuff getting into my bloodstream, and then I groaned when I realized that the potion I had rubbed against was Amorentia. I tried to think back on all the things we had learned, hoping beyond hope that this love potion wouldn't get me into any trouble.

While I couldn't smell any of its characteristics, I still though it would be a good idea to clean it off and bandage the cut. When I turned around, my blood was boiling as I looked at Sirius's innocent face. I brushed past him to the sinks that were located next to the professor's desk, and then turned my already angered face into an all out death glare. "I hope for your sake that this is not going to have any affects on me." I stated simply as I applied some slight pressure and cleaned the cut. Now that it wasn't bleeding, it didn't look too bad.

"You really should work out your anger issues, Alexa. This bet will be all too easy with you always threatening violence." He looked pointedly at my clenched fists, smirking once again when I visibly forced myself to unclench them. Taking my spot at the cleaning table, he reclined against a cauldron whilst showing no interest in cleaning it. He did, however, show immense interest in further pissing me off. "For me, the bet has been like a brisk walk in the park."

My eyes pretty much fell out of their sockets when he said this. "First of all, Sirius, a brisk walk in the park? What are you from the 1820's? And second what I saw today in the Great Hall was practically you falling over yourself in order to say no. I thought that this would be a way for you to show me that I really meant something to you and that you were willing to put aside the flirting to actually give it a chance. But you're just a man-whore who only cares about his next quick fix."

"Yeah, well if you take this whole thing so seriously why are you the one who paid those girls to seduce me into something that would break the bet?" I looked up into his eyes to see that he was about as pissed off as I was. "I think that you want me to fail so you don't have to put up with your feelings anymore. That if I screw up, then it gives you just one more reason for us not to work." I looked down again and noticed that my feet were moving me backwards away from Sirius.

"I don't _want_ this to happen, Sirius. I just want to know that if we admit to our feelings that it's not going to backfire in my face. Or that you might just get the urge to step out with my best friend." As cliché as it might sound, while I said this my back hit the wall and Sirius was about as close as he could get without touching me.

"So you want this to happen? This right here?" He asked while placing his hands on either side of the wall next to me and incasing me in the cocoon that his arms made. I couldn't see anything around the tall boy in front of me, and his clean smell was wafting around the air as well. He smelled like citrus and something that I couldn't place, but it was all making my head spin. Before I could help it, my head tilted upwards and I almost let my lips touch his. As it were, our lips were hovering next to each other, waiting for one tense moment.

"If you kissed me now, who would lose the bet?" I asked breathlessly. Trying not to wrap my arms around him or just close the space between us.

"I think it would depend on who moved first, but if we moved at the same time I think we could call it a draw."

As the miniscule space between us was beginning to close, the door slung open and Sirius and I flew apart as if someone had placed a spell on us. As my back hit the wall and my head cracked off it, Slughorn walked in looking jovial and well fed. "Missed my dinner tonight, although the house elves always welcome company in the kitchen and didn't complain." He looked between both of us and then realized the awkward tension that had settled over the room. "Well, in light of my good mood, I'm going to take back your punishment and send you back to the common room earlier."

Once again, I jumped forward and hit a desk before sliding to a halt when I hit another stool. "Please, do be careful Ms. Parker." Slughorn said and I nodded before choosing a clearer path and basically running out of the classroom. "Alexa! Wait for a minute please," I heard and I reluctantly stopped in my path. "Listen, I just…we should call off the bet." Sirius said and I blinked while he ran a hand through his hair.

"Why? So you won't lose?" I asked condescendingly before I could stop myself.

"No, because I don't want to hurt you and I can go for more than a week if it helps me prove myself to you. But I don't want you to date me because you lost some bet or something as equally stupid." He said this so seriously that it took a minute for it to sink in. And then when I realized that the bet was over and he was back to the Sirius who took my heart and then tore it apart in the first place, I stepped up close.

"Fine, the bet's over, but it's going to take more than just a few sweet words to win me over." Then with a flip of my braids over my shoulder, I reached up and slapped him in the face. "That's for being such an ass all day." Then, I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. "And that's for being truly sorry and ready to change."

Leaving the stunned boy touching his cheek, I hustled my ass back to the common room to find my best friends. This called for an extreme talk to help me figure out a way to stay out of the clutches of love. Because if this wasn't love I wanted to wait until the real thing came my way. And if it really did turn out to be love or something like it….

Then I'd blame it on the Amorentia.

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Amulet's Note: Well, wasn't that just smashing! I personally think that Sirius and Alexa were utterly adorable. Anyways, job well done to my coauthor and now all we ask of you good people is to please REVIEW! Just a few thoughts, that's all we ask. I will try to get the next chapter written as soon as it is possible, but that just depends on my friends outlining skills. Summer time is here though, so it shouldn't be long!

Peace.


	16. Payback is a Girl Named Bree

Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, would I really have let Remus Lupin let himself go like that? No, no I would not have.

Amulet's Note (way more important than ProngsFlowers! ;)) Well, I don't know about you guys but I had so much fun in writing this chapter that I was ready to write another one too, but I had to give my co-author her chance to write as well. Actually, I probably wouldn't have written another one, but I like making my friend freak out on me. Anyways, I really hope that everyone enjoys this chapter because it's important and will hopefully make you do some laughing.

Thanks for all the reviews on the last few chapters! We love your support and feedback makes us write faster and better. So hint, hint; review! Hah, okay, enjoy the chapter!

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"_Payback is a Real Big Bitch!"_

_Lyla's Point Of View_

"What the hell have I gotten myself into?" Alexa asked as she barged into the common room and came to sit with Blair and myself. "Am I that stupid to let this happen again?" Blair went to say something but was cut off, "Don't answer that," Alexa quickly said to Blair. She sat there jittering around for a few more minutes, and then posed another question. "Am I out of my mind?" This time I went to respond, "Don't answer that either," she said to me. "Oh, God, what am I doing?"

I scooted closer to my sister and put my arms around her shoulders. "Alex, I honestly believe that you are not stupid and that you aren't _completely_ out of your mind," I said putting emphasis on 'completely', "But what on earth are you even talking about.

Alexa gave me a smile, "Well, during detention I may have, sort of, kissed Sirius," she said mumbling the last few words.

Blair's eyes widened and she leaned in a bit closer, "Um, excuse me, but what was that last part?"

Alexa looked around nervously and mumbled again, "I kissed Sirius."

"What?!" I exclaimed.

"I know, I know! I am a fool!" Alexa screamed throwing her arms over her face and slumping into the couch.

"So you lost the bet?" I asked, trying to make sense of all of this. Alexa just shook her head. "So, he lost the bet," I stated. Alexa again shook her head. "Well, what the hell happened?"

Alexa removed her arms from her face and sat up properly. "Alright, so, we started fighting about the bet and all that stuff and then he cornered me and we started getting dangerously close. I mean, like _really_ close. I had to use all of my will power to keep myself from ravaging his body. I just wanted to rub my hands all over…," Alexa started rambling while making some awkward hand motions. I cleared my throat and Alexa suddenly snapped back to reality. She looked at me and Blair as her faced turned scarlet, "Right, um, sorry. So, anyway, we were about ready to kiss and then Sluggy came in and told us that we could leave. Naturally, I began to haul ass out of there, but Sirius stopped me. He told me he wanted to call off the bet."

"Did he say why?" Blair asked, intrigued.

"He said that he would go more than a week to prove himself to me and that he wanted me to date him because I wanted to and not because of some stupid, childish bet," Alexa explained.

A wave of comfort washed over me, "Well, that was very mature and sweet of Sirius," I pointed out.

"Aw, Alexa, that's great," Blair added, Alexa nodded her head in agreement. "So, what did you say?"

"I slapped him in the face, kissed him, and then ran up here to find you two," Alexa told us.

Blair and I looked at each other and back to Alexa. "Maybe that wasn't the best way to handle it, but I appreciate your inventiveness and willingness to try new things," I teased Alexa.

"Haha, very funny," she responded giving me a fake smile. "Yeah, but what do I do now?" she asked me.

"I'm afraid I can't really tell you that, Alex," I told her honestly.

"What? Why? You're all in a relationship though, you should be able to help me," Alexa complained.

"I am, but Remus and I are nothing like you and Sirius, thank Merlin," I told her. "Oh, no offense," I added.

"None taken," she told me. "What about you Blair, can you help me at all?"

"Look, I'm probably the last person to give someone advice on relationships, but I say you just jump on it," Blair told Alexa.

I smiled and said, "You know, I am going to have to agree with Blair on this one." Alexa let out a frustrated grunt and began to rub her head as she contemplated everything. "Alexa, now, you have to answer a question and you have to be entirely honest with yourself," I told her. "What do you want? Do you want to give this whole thing another chance?"

Alexa sat there for a moment weighing her options. I could tell she was really struggling with this. "I would like to say no, but honestly, I still have feelings for him and I truly want to believe that he can change, but what if he can't?"

"What if he can?" I asked. When I said this, Alexa seemed to have had some sort of a revelation.

"Alexa, I know you've been hurt but you can't let fear keep you from loving. If Sirius truly has feelings for you and you don't give him a chance to show them, then you could be missing out on a whole lot; and I would hate for that to happen to you," Blair offered.

"I know that you guys are right but I just need to think about it a bit longer. But, you guys are amazing, you know that?" Alexa asked. Blair and I looked at each other and we both nodded our heads as Alexa pulled us both into a huge hug.

When Alexa released me from her grasp, I felt another pair of arms wrap around me from behind and a familiar voice spoke into my ear. "Hello, delicate; so, listen, I saw you from across the room and I was just wondering where's your boyfriend at?"

I giggled a little bit, "I don't have a boyfriend," I responded coyly. I lifted my hands and placed them into Remus's soft hair and twirled it around my fingers.

"Oh, you don't? You don't have a boyfriend? Well, why don't you come with me and I'll see if I can change that," Remus said kissing me at the crook of my neck.

I craned my neck to look Remus in the eyes and gave him a sly smile. "Well, you're not really my type, sorry," I said patting him apologetically on his shoulder.

His gaze darkened and he leaned in closer to me, "I know for a fact that I'm your type; let me remind you." He tilted my face gently up to his and placed an unhurried passionate kiss on my lips.

"Oh, for Merlin's sake!" Alexa exclaimed swatting Remus away from me. "Will you two knock it off! You guys are just so freaking cute it makes me sick." Alexa made a very realistic gagging noise and went through the motions of vomiting. My sister, the actor, ladies and gentleman

Remus laughed as he poked Alexa in the face and then made his way around the couch with James behind him. Remus sat on the couch next to me and pulled me onto his lap encasing me in his arms as James took a seat in a chair sitting opposite of us. "Hi there," I said smiling at Remus.

"Hi," he responded placing a proper kiss on my lips.

"Get a room," Alexa said rolling her eyes. Remus looked at Alexa raising an eyebrow. Alexa quickly jumped in her seat, "No, wait, I take that back! You two just stay were I can see you and don't ever think about getting a room. Just forget I said anything." We all just laughed at my sister.

"So, Alexa, Moony and I have a question for you," James said, jumping into the conversation.

"Alright, shoot," Alexa said.

"What exactly happened during detention earlier? When we went to go find Sirius, he seemed really weird and he said that he had to go and think about some stuff," James told us.

Blair looked at me with a smile and then said, "Yeah, Alexa, what happened?"

Alexa nervously blushed and said, "I have no idea, nothing happened, nothing at all, Sirius is just being weird. Nothing happened. Nothing." Alexa guiltily looked away from James and Remus., as she tried to remain cool.

Remus clearly saw through her façade, "We never said anything did happen. Why are you acting strange?" he questioned.

Alexa snapped her head around to look at Remus, "Look here Lupin, nothing happened, I am not acting strange, and I have no idea what Sirius's problem is; so just let it go!" We all looked shockingly at one another and then at Alexa. "Oh don't look so shocked, you look like you've never seen me freak out before," she snapped at us.

I put my hand on Alexa's shoulder, "Alex, I think you need to just take a deep breath and maybe you should head up to bed, you look a bit tired."

"You're right, I am kind of tired," she said rubbing her eyes. She looked up at James and Remus apologetically, "Sorry for lashing out at you." James and Remus just nodded, shaking it off.

Right when Alexa was getting ready to head up to our dorm, we heard the portrait swing open and in walked Sirius. As he walked in, he seemed to be deep in thought and he didn't even seem to notice we were all sitting there watching him intently. He looked up at us and immediately zeroed in on Alexa and his face went white. He slowly made his way over to where we were sitting and stopped at the end of the couch where Alexa was sitting. He unhurriedly bent down and leaned in close to Alexa, "Excuse me, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Alexa stood up and looked down to where Sirius was still crouching, "Um, no." And with that response she quickly made her way toward the stairs leading up to our dormitory. We all shifted to watch Alexa as she ran away. She abruptly stopped at the foot of the stairs and turned back to look at us. "Lyla," she shouted to me waving me over. Suddenly, all eyes were on me. I sent her back a questioning gaze. "Lyla, come here!" she said waving furiously now.

I let out a huff and Remus lifted me off his lap and onto my feet. I went over to where my sister was waiting for me. "What is it?" I asked.

She leaned in close so no one would hear us, "Hey, don't tell Sirius anything I told you. I don't want him to know completely how I feel quite yet, okay?"

I rolled my eyes at her, "Yeah, yeah, you have nothing to worry about," I reassured her. She pulled me into a hug, mumbled a thanks and then ran up the stairs.

As I made my way back to where the others were sitting, I noticed that Sirius had taken residence where Alexa had been sitting. I sat back down in Remus's lap and made myself comfortable. However, my comfort didn't last for long. Sirius suddenly stood up and turned to me, "Lyla, can I have a word?" I looked at him quizzically and motioned for him to continue. "A word in private?"

I nodded my head and got up once again to follow Sirius to a secluded corner of the common room. Blair also stood up when I did and said, "Well, I think I'm going to go to bed, see you guys in the morning." James and Remus both did the same, leaving me and Sirius all alone in the common room.

"What can I do for you, Sirius?" I asked as we took a seat across from each other.

Sirius leaned forward in his seat resting his elbows on his knees, "Did Alexa say anything to you about this evening?" he asked.

"No," I responded. "Should she have told me something?" I baited him.

Sirius leaned back into the leather chair and exhaled, "No, no, I suppose not." Sirius's expression then went back into his thinking mode.

"Sirius, are you okay? You seemed to be a little confused about something," I offered, hoping he would open up like a book.

"Confused is an understatement, I am completely bamboozled!" he exclaimed.

"Do you want to talk about it, maybe I could help," I suggested.

Sirius thought about it for a moment, "Yeah, I think you can help me; I mean you understand your sister pretty well." I nodded my head at this obvious thought. "Okay, so you may not know this, but I have feelings for your sister."

"Sirius, I think I am pretty well aware that you like Alexa," I told him.

He nodded his head, "Okay, right, so earlier in detention, I decided that we should call of the silly bet that we made."

"Afraid you were going to lose, were you?" I asked playing dumb.

"No!" he quickly shouted at me. "That's not it at all. It's just, I want Alexa and I to be together because we want to be and not because one of us lost some stupid bet."

"Well, I bet Alexa was very pleased to hear that."

He again looked perplexed, "Yeah, you would think that, but that is not the reaction I got at all. She slapped me, kissed me, and then ran off; and I have no idea what that means or where we stand."

I laughed after hearing the tale for the second time, "You do seem to have a bit of a conundrum on your hands," I pointed out. Sirius nodded his head furiously.

Sirius cautiously looked around the common room to make sure no one was around, "Listen if I tell you this, will you promise not to say anything to Alexa?" he asked. I nodded my head as I waited for Sirius to tell me what I had been waiting to here. "I really like your sister," he told me smiling a bit as he said it. "I know you probably question me because of previous mistakes, but I learned from them and now I know what I want. I truly want this thing between me and Alexa to work, but I don't know how she feels about all this."

I nodded my head as I listened to Sirius's testimony. "Sirius, I can't tell you how Alexa feels, but here's some advice. You shouldn't let this fear get in the way of you two. By telling her how you feel you are showing her that you are ready to change and make a commitment and I honestly believe that things will work out for you," I told him.

"You really think so?" he asked.

"Yes, Sirius, I do."

"So, you're saying, I should just be honest and tell her how I feel?"

"Yep."

Sirius finally looked relieved, "Okay, I will." Finally. The two of them would hopefully stop being babies and realize that they were perfect for each other. Sirius stood up and I did the same, "Lyls, thanks so much, you have been a tremendous help," he said as we walked over the stairs leading up to our respective dormitories.

"No problem," I assured him.

Before he turned to head up the stairs he put his hand on my arm, "Oh, and just so you know, I give you and Remus my blessings. You two are wonderful together and I just wanted to let you know that I approve," he told me with a bright smile on his face.

I smiled back at him, "Well, thank you so much Sirius." I then put my hand on Sirius's arm, "I want you to know that I give you and Alexa my blessing, but if you hurt her again, I will be forced to castrate you," I told him with a smile.

He grimaced a bit and then put a smile back on his face, "Fair enough," he responded.

I patted him on his shoulder and then turned to go up the stairs, "Alright, goodnight Sirius." Up in the dormitory, everyone was already in their beds sound asleep. I quietly slipped into my sweatpants, crept over to my bed, and slipped under the pleasantly warm covers. Within minutes I slipped into a dream.

As my mind woke up, I realized that this was the first morning in a long time that I had just woken up naturally. I wasn't forced to wake up early by an alarm, by screams, or by anybody seeking my help; I liked it. I was able to just wake up normally and it felt amazing. I opened my well rested eyes and looked around, quickly seeing that this morning was not as normal as I thought.

I looked down at the foot of my bed and sitting Indian style was Alexa. She was looking at me in our signature creeper face; with her top lip curled under and a very disturbing smile plastered on her cream colored face. "Top o' the mornin' to ya," she said in her best Irish accent.

I rubbed my eyes as I laughed at my crazy sister. I pulled myself up to sit against my headboard and Alexa crawled further up my bed to sit closer to me. "And to what do I owe this display of loveliness bestowed upon me this morning?" I questioned Alexa, as I noticed that Blair had already gone.

"I just wanted to wait for you this morning," she responded, clearly lying.

"Uh huh, and why didn't you just go wait down stairs with Blair and the others?" I asked, ultimately already knowing the answer. I knew it had something to do with Sirius, as did all things now a day.

Alexa shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, "No reason, I guess I just love you more."

I nodded my head suspiciously, "Right, so it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Sirius is down there?" Alexa immediately got a bit defensive.

"Lyla, oh Lyla, ha, you would think that," she rambled guiltily. "I mean that's not it at all. I didn't even think about that," she laughed a little. "You know, I forgot that he even went to this school until you just mentioned that." As she continued to fake laugh I raised a questioning eyebrow at her. She stopped laughing and got serious, "Yeah, okay, I'm lying, big surprise, I know."

I smiled at Alexa and then threw my covers off me as I stepped onto the cold wooden floor. I went over to my wardrobe and quickly changed trying to spend as little time as possible in the cold air brought on by winter that surrounded me. I pulled my fingers through my hair making it look somewhat presentable and then reached for the door leading down into the common room. "Where are you going?" Alexa said still sitting on my bed.

"I'm going down to the common room to meet everyone else and then I assume we will get a bite to eat and then it's really up in the air for the rest of the day," I explained, wondering what she was getting at.

"Oh, um, well, here's an idea why don't we skip breakfast and hang out up here for a little while, just the two of us; just like old times," she offered optimistically. Wow, she was honestly freaked out about seeing Sirius.

"Alexa, we can not stay up here all day, we just can't," I said as I went back to where she was still sitting on my bed. I sat down next to her and she just looked down at the floor as she twiddled her thumbs. I slung my arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a hug. "Listen, you need to stop being such a baby. Look, I love you, and that's why I'm going to stop babying you. You just need to face your feelings and don't be ashamed of them." Alexa looked up and looked e straight in the eyes. "You like Sirius; I know it, you know it, he knows it, everyone knows it."

Alexa smiled and then let out a sigh. "You're right, I know you're right." She nodded her head and hugged me tighter. She looked at me again but this time she had a look of embarrassment on her face. "Everyone knows?" she asked, hoping that my answer would be no.

I couldn't help but laugh. I nodded my head, "Yeah, everyone, and I mean everyone," I told her rubbing her shoulder consolingly. "Alright, so can we go down stairs now?" I asked standing up and extending my hand to her. She reluctantly nodded her head and took my hand. We linked arms and made our way down the steps leading to the common room.

When we entered into the common room, everyone was seated around a fire talking amongst themselves. Even Peter, who hadn't been around lately for some reason, was trying to weasel his way into various conversations. As we approached the group, James was the first to notice us. "Good morning, ladies," he told us giving us a jovial smile.

James, Peter and Blair quickly got up and started off toward the portrait hole. Remus and Sirius then stood up. Remus grabbed my hand and we slowly followed after the three that had already left. I purposely walked slow, wanting to see what Sirius and Alexa were doing. Sirius stood awkwardly in front of Alexa for a few minutes and then said, "Um, Alex, I was wondering if I could maybe talk to you about something?" he asked. From where I was standing, I could hear the quiver of nervousness in his voice.

Remus and I acted like we weren't eavesdropping as Alexa went to respond, "Yeah, sure, what's up?"

A wave of relief flooded over Sirius. "Let's talk after breakfast. I'll get us some hot chocolate and we can take a walk outside; is that okay?" he asked. Aww, this was too cute.

Alexa tried hard to hold back a huge beaming smile but she failed a bit. "Yeah, that sounds good," she told him. Sirius smiled back and nodded his head. They turned to face where Remus and I were gawking at them and Remus and I quickly looked away. I peeked back at Alexa who was now glaring at me and Sirius at Remus.

As Sirius and Alexa walked toward us, I quickly turned to Remus, "Just act like we didn't hear or see anything," I instructed as I pushed a loose curl from Remus's face. I looked over just as Sirius and Alexa came up right next to us. "Oh, hey!" I said acting liked I totally didn't see them coming. "Well, let's go get some food," I said grabbing Alexa's arm and pulling her with me.

"So how did I do?" Alexa asked as we walked down the corridor toward the Great Hall. She was eyeing me suspiciously with a slight smirk on her face.

"What are you talking about?" I asked playing dumb by denying everything.

"Oh, please, I know that you and Remus were listening to everything; I'm not that dense," she said rolling her eyes. I guiltily looked at Alexa with a sheepish grin on my face. "So, that's why I'm asking how I did."

"Well, I think you did marvelously. I have to say that I am very happy for you," I told her patting her on her arm that was linked with mine. "Are you excited?" I asked, knowing that I was probably just as excited about this as Alexa was.

"Yeah, I'm nervous, but excited. I wonder what he wants to talk about though," she thought. I wasn't for sure, but I thought I had a pretty good idea of what would be discussed.

Remus and Sirius caught up with us as we entered into the Great Hall. We made our way over to our usual spots where Blair, James and Peter were already eating. Alexa and I sat on either side of Blair and Remus and Sirius sat opposite us next to Peter and James. "What took you guys so long?" Blair asked me.

"Sirius had to ask Alexa something," I told her in a whisper so no one could hear, not even Alexa. Blair's eyes widened in interest and they begged me to continue. "From what I could tell, after breakfast, they are going to take a walk outside because he needs to talk to her about something," I explained.

Blair nodded excitedly as she took a bite of toast. She swallowed and then said, "Man, I wish that I could be a fly on the wall for that conversation." When Blair said this a light bulb switch on in my mind and I had one of the most brilliant ideas that I have had in a while. Blair must have noticed my excited expression on my face because she asked, "What? What are you thinking?"

"I think there is a way that we can be there without anyone knowing," I told her.

Blair perked up with interest, "What do you have in mind?"

I shot her a devious smile, "We could maybe borrow James's invisibility cloak and then we can be there with Alexa and Sirius and they won't even know it." Blair's jaw dropped and she did a happy dance in her seat. "Calm down," I said hitting her, "We can't let anyone know, because if Alexa found out she would freaking kill us." Blair nodded and zipped her lips.

We continued eating and when we all had finished we headed back up to the common room. When we entered into the common room Alexa and Sirius stopped right inside the portrait hole as the rest of us filed in. "So I'll go get us some hot chocolate, you grab your jacket and meet me down by the Great Hall and then we'll go from there," Sirius said rather discretely. Alexa nodded her head and then they went their separate ways.

Alexa giddily made her way toward the dorms and as she walked by she gave me and Blair a wave. "See you guys later," she said. "I'll tell you everything later," she assured us quietly.

"Oh, you won't have to," Blair said, not thinking. I looked at Blair in a panic.

"What did you say?" Alexa asked as she stopped dead in her tracks.

Crap. "Um, I said yeah you have to," Blair said trying to save our asses.

Alexa looked suspiciously at me and Blair. Luckily she bought our lies, "Don't worry, I will." She rushed over, gave us a hug, and then scurried upstairs to ready herself.

When Alexa disappeared up the stairs, Blair looked to me and said, "Alright, let's do this." She turned back to he room and zeroed in on Remus and James. They must have noticed us starring at them because they quickly made their way over to where we were standing at the foot of the stairs.

"What are you two up to?" Remus asked pulling me in for a hug. I gave him a tight squeeze and then got right down to business.

"So James, can we borrow your invisibility cloak?" I asked. James and Remus looked at each other both equally confused. "Please?" I added, hoping that the added niceness would give me some extra brownie points.

"And what do you ladies need with my unique cloak?" he asked Blair and myself.

Shoot. I was hoping that he wouldn't even ask. Blair and I looked at each other. Both of us were at a lost for words. I just said the first thing that popped into my head. "We need to get a… a… book from the library, from the restricted section, it's important," I said trying to bullshit my way into getting the invisibility cloak.

"You don't need an invisibility cloak to go to the library," James so wisely pointed out to us.

Blair then stepped in, "James, you, of all people, don't know anything about the library. Believe us, we need this; it's a very restricted book," she told him convincingly.

James and Remus looked at each other and then at us skeptically. James had a look on his face that for some reason told me that we would not be successful in our attempt to secure the cloak for a few hours. But then, James did something we didn't see coming. James shrugged his shoulders and said, "Yeah, sure, you guys can use it. Come on up to our dorm and you can get it," he told us stepping forward to go up the stairs.

Blair and I looked at each other with a smile, but Remus put a hand on James's shoulder to stop him. "Wait just one second, Prongs." James stopped and turned back to face us. "Even if you had to get a book from the restricted section of the library, Lyla, you would have no problems, especially since you are a prefect," Remus said, eyeing me and exposing our lie for what it was. "What is this really about, Lyla?" he asked starring deep into my eyes.

I looked to Blair who gave in and signaled for me to just tell them the truth. "Fine, Sirius and Alexa are going on a walk to discuss some things and Blair and I wanted to listen in on them without them seeing us; which is why we asked for he cloak," I explained.

Remus shook his head. "You guys should just let them do this on their own. They don't need any other reasons to not work," Remus said.

"Look, Remus, we know where you're coming from, but we really want to be there for Alexa. So, James, even though your answer will probably be no, I have to ask again. May we use your cloak?" Blair asked.

James thought about it for a few minutes and then said, "Yes." I knew he would… wait… what? Did he just say yes? That is what I'm talking about! "There is one condition though," he said, "Remus and I get to come with you."

Blair nodded her head, "Fine, but if we get caught I will totally blame it all on you," Blair told James. James nodded his head in agreement and they headed up the stairs to the dorms. I put my arm around Remus's waist and rubbed his back as we followed James and Blair.

James threw open the door to their dormitory; revealing it to be surprisingly clean. Blair and I skipped over to James's bed and plopped down on it. James moved to the end of his bed where his trunk was and Remus came and sat on the bed with me and Blair. James raised the lid of the trunk and riffled through it for several minutes, muttering nonsense to himself.

Finally, James found the cloak and whipped it out in a grand flowing gesture. He shook it gently to rid it of any dust that may have accumulated. "Here it is," he said, marveling at his prized possession. We all looked at the delicate material that cascaded down from James's hand like a waterfall of silver velvet.

"So, how exactly are we going to do this?" Remus asked breaking the silence.

I hopped off the bed and said, "Well, we simply just get under the cloak and stalk them."

"That's it?" Remus asked skeptically. "That's your brilliant plan?" he said teasingly to me.

I playfully hit him on the shoulder, "Don't be mean. And yes, that is my plan. I didn't really give a whole lot of thought to it, but I doubt it actually has to be that well thought out, I mean the whole concept is pretty basic," I said.

James started for the door, "Okay team, let's do this." He opened the door and motioned for us to file out. We did as instructed and filed down the stairs back into the common room. "Now, where did they say they were going?" James asked as we walked across the relatively crowded common room.

"We don't know the specifics, but they did say that they were going to meet by the Great Hall and then go from there," Blair offered as we exited through the portrait hole. James nodded his head as we continued in the direction of the Great Hall. As we were about to round the corner by the Great Hall, Blair said something that made us all stop immediately. "Wait, there's Alexa," Blair said in a panic.

We all hurriedly looked around to find some shelter to shield us from Alexa's sight. We quickly ducked behind a nearby statue of some famous wizard. I cautiously peeked around the stone statue and watched my sister as she waited. Alexa was pacing in a small circle dressed in her black winter coat and sporting our house scarf and gloves and a solid black toboggan with her hair delicately weaved into two braids. Watching her pace, I could tell she was anxious and a bit nervous, which is what I would expect.

"Where's Sirius?" I asked hoping he would get there soon. I looked to Blair who just shrugged her shoulders.

Suddenly Remus caused me a fright. "Oh, crap, there he is!" he whisper exclaimed. When I looked back at Remus, he was turned around starring behind us. There walking toward us, looking rather giddy, was Sirius, carrying two thermoses and dressed warmly as well.

We all instinctively shifted into a mode of panic. "What do we do? What do we do?" Blair pleaded.

"I don't know!" James barked.

"Do not snap at me, James Potter," Blair retorted.

"Give me the cloak," I said grabbing for it and throwing it over us half-ass. Our feet were most likely showing, I just hoped Sirius wouldn't notice. Sirius was completely oblivious to the fact that we were only meters away from him, and he just kept walking by. We situated the cloak to where it covered us completely and we moved a bit closer to Sirius and Alexa, keeping close to the walls to avoid run-ins with passer bys.

Sirius handed Alexa one of the thermoses and then they headed for the mammoth wooden doors leading to the courtyard behind them. The four of us quickly moved to keep up with them so we wouldn't miss any juicy details.

Sirius and Alexa walked in silence for a while and I swear I could feel the awkwardness even standing a ways away from them. Because things were off to a slow start, some of us under the cloak, (cough, James, cough), started getting a bit restless. "Why hasn't anything happened yet?" James asked impatiently. "Why aren't they even talking?" he asked two minutes after the first question. "When are they going to start?" And the questions just kept on coming. If I didn't have to be all super stealthy right then, I swear I would have kicked him so hard. People really underestimate how annoying James can be sometimes.

After ignoring James's questions for a while, Blair finally snapped. "James, if you ask when it's going to happen one more time, I will take you back up to the castle, make you sit in you room, and you will never be able to come on adventures ever again! Now, does that sound like fun?" Blair asked. James shook his head like a little puppy being punished.

Remus, who had been keeping a keen eye on Alexa and Sirius, cut in, "Shh, I think something's happening." We all immediately put all the pettiness from before behind us and turned our attention to Alexa and Sirius who were sitting on a bench with a trellis over top of it covered in frozen dead ivy. Sirius's lips were moving, but we were just out of reach to be able to hear them. I concentrated really hard hoping that would help, but I had no such luck. Remus grabbed my arm and said, "Come on, let's move a bit closer; we can hide by that gargoyle there." He pointed to an ancient gargoyle that was much closer to Alexa and Sirius than we were now.

In unison, we all began to move toward the gargoyle as quickly as we could possibly move without exposing ourselves. We got settled behind the statue and began to listen intently.

"Thanks for the hot chocolate; it's delicious," Alexa said, taking another sip from her thermos. Sirius nodded also taking a long drink, looking like he was building up to something big. "So, um, you wanted to talk to me about something?" Alexa bravely asked.

Sirius looked down at his hands and nodded. "Yeah, I did, and well I'm glad you came. Um, so, we've been through a lot this year," Sirius started and Alexa nodded in agreement. "I know I've made many mistakes and I know that many of them have hurt you." Alexa gave Sirius a weak smile and then looked down at her nervous, gloved hands. The awkward tension began as Sirius looked at her hands to possibly hold one and then thought better of it. Alexa looked up at him again. "I am truly sorry for all of that, and I never meant to hurt you. I am so sorry," he said again.

Alexa gave him a smile and said, "Sirius, I forgive you. I'm not innocent in all of this either," she admitted.

Sirius jumped in before Alexa could continue. "No, stop, you shouldn't have to apologize for anything. I was so stupid. I mean, first with Bree. She was your best friend; your best friend," he said really disgusted. It was kind of hard not to feel any cutesy feelings when Sirius was actually being true about his feelings and I wrapped an arm around Remus's waist, smiling up at him as I did so. Blair and James on the other hand were pushing each other, vying for the small space between us all.

Rolling my eyes I turned back to see Alexa's face harden a bit, "Yeah, I know," she said patting his hand, "You can move on now." The slight annoyance and sarcastic bite to her voice was enough for Sirius to get the point. He quickly moved on.

"Right, sorry. And then that whole thing with Caradoc, especially that. I was just jealous; the though of you with that tool just drove me nuts and I did some things that I'm not proud of," Sirius told her looking straight into her eyes.

"Like punching me in the face," Alexa said laughing.

Sirius smiled apologetically, "Yeah, like that." Sirius looked back down at his hands and then back to Alexa.

"James, get off me," Blair said, interrupting the beautiful scene unfolding before us.

"I'm not touching you," James said from behind me.

"Yeah, but you are standing way too close," Blair told him.

"Will you two knock it off?" Remus asked, sounding very annoyed.

"Moony, I'm not even doing anything," James confessed.

Sirius finally spoke and I tried to block out the bickering behind me so I could hear him. "I guess what I'm trying to say, is that…" Sirius trailed off trying to find the perfect words. Oh, this was it! What we had been waiting for!

I looked back at Blair and James excitedly. "Just back off me a bit," Blair said, moving her hands to push James. James started to fall backwards and the cloak started to catch all of us and take us down with him. Remus's arm speedily caught James's arm, suspending him in mid air, and I grabbed the cloak to keep it from falling off.

"…is that…" We all stopped and stood as still as the gargoyle that was helping to hide us. We all listened and waited for Sirius to continue. "Um, can you excuse me for a minute?" Sirius asked. I shot a confused look at Remus, who just shrugged his shoulders.

"Yeah, sure," Alexa said in a highly confused tone. Remus brought James back on balance and I peeked around the gargoyle to see a horrific sight. Alexa was now sitting on the bench alone and Sirius was cautiously making his way over to the gargoyle that we were behind.

"Holy shit," I cursed.

"What?" Blair asked.

"Sirius is coming over here," I panicked.

James stepped up to take control, "Okay, just stay calm, he can't see us so just stay as quiet as a mouse and we'll be fine." He leaned to the side to see where Sirius was and then quickly said, "He's here, everyone hold their breath and stay still." James took in a huge breath and we all stood perfectly still.

Sure enough, within a matter of seconds, Sirius came around the gargoyle and was inspecting it carefully. He waved his hand out in front of him and if trying to grasp something. My breath hitched in my throat as his hand came dangerously close to my face. Remus put his hand over my mouth to keep me from making any noise.

Sirius put his hands on his hips trying to figure out all of this. He finally accepted that there was nothing there and turned to leave. It seemed that we were in the clear; but, then again, I didn't take into account that James was with us. Sirius didn't get more than two steps away before James let out a snicker. Sirius immediately stopped and turned back to face us. We all turned our heads and death glared James. Sirius walked slowly toward us, extended his hand, and grasped the cloak, his expression turning furious.

He lifted up the cloak enough to see us but not enough to reveal us entirely. When he saw our guilty faces he shook his head in shame. "Oh, hey Sirius, fancy seeing you here," I offered trying to lighten the mood. I gave him a guilty smile as he just stared at us.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he whispered.

"Just taking a stroll," Remus told him.

"Under the invisibility cloak? You guys are spying on us, aren't you?" We all just nodded our heads in shame. "Oh, my God," he said looking back at Alexa to make sure she couldn't see. "Listen, I need to get back over there before I blow things again, so, I don't really care why you're doing this; but promise me you will leave now. And I will deal with you guys later. Now, go!" he instructed us. He dropped the cloak, gave us one more menacing look, and then headed back over to Alexa.

He sat back down on the bench and gave us another look. "Are you okay?" Alexa asked when he was seated again.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said a little flushed now. "But, back to what I was trying to say before," he took Alexa's hands in his, "I like you Alexa, I like you a lot. And, if you want to, I would like to see where this thing between us will go."

Alexa just looked at Sirius and smiled. Then, without saying a word, Alexa put her arms around Sirius's neck and leaned in and kissed him. A feeling flooded over me, a feeling that made me feel like all was right with the world. Remus put his arm around me and placed a kiss on the top of my head and Blair and James even gave each other a hug from the joy of seeing Sirius and Alexa finally together.

Sirius and Alexa parted and both of them were beaming with joy. "So is that a yes?" Sirius asked with a smile. Alexa nodded her head and then went back in for another kiss. Oh, this was just so beautiful.

As Alexa and Sirius started making out, James, yet again, felt the need to unintentionally ruin everything. "Yes, that is my boy!" he exclaimed rather loudly. Remus just covered his eyes and shook his head. Naturally, Alexa stopped and looked over in our direction very curiously.

"What was that?" she asked looking at Sirius now. Sirius just shook his head. Alexa slowly got up from the bench and made her way over to where we were standing. She gently reached out and grabbed the cloak. Once she realized what it was, she ripped it off us and threw it to the ground. "What the hell?!" she shouted furiously. We all just stood there like puppies with our tails between our legs. "What is going on?" she asked as Sirius came over to stand beside her. "Did you know about this?" she asked Sirius.

"I knew nothing about this until a few minutes ago when I caught a glimpse of James's leg," he admitted honestly.

Blair jumped in hoping to save Sirius. "Sirius had nothing to do with this Alex. To be honest, all the blame belongs to… James. All of it," she said pointing to James. I gave Blair a stern look, feeling a bit bad for beating up on James all day. "Okay, fine, we all are to blame."

Alexa just looked at us speechless. Finally she found some words, "I want you all to go straight up to the common room and wait for us," she said pointing to Sirius and herself. "Do not talk to anyone else, do not go anywhere else, you just go straight to the common room and wait; it will give you some time to think about what you have done." As Alexa said this, I saw something in her eyes and on her face that I hadn't seen in a while. Without a word, James collected the cloak and we turned to head back up to the common room.

As we sat there in the common room waiting for Alexa and Sirius, I remembered Alexa's face when I last saw her. I remembered what I saw on her face, and it made me smile. What was it that I saw? Happiness. My little sister was finally happy again. She had found genuine happiness and it warmed my heart to see her that way; even though I knew that an ass whooping was most likely going to be coming through that portrait hole any minute now. Oh, well, at least she'll do it with a smile on her face.

_Four days later._

Alexa's wrath wasn't too bad. There was a lot of yelling and freaking out but luckily there was no physical violence. But that was the last thing on my mind. In fact there really wasn't anything on my mind. School was winding down as Christmas Break was approaching and I didn't have a care in the world. In two days, Alexa and I would be heading home, with our friends in tow.

Alexa and I decided to invite Blair, James, Sirius, and Remus over for the holidays. Since Remus and I were getting pretty serious and Alexa and Sirius were dating, we thought that this would be a good time to introduce them to our parents. Alexa and I couldn't be more excited, we were going to have all the people we love all in the same place during the happiest time of the year.

However, Sirius and Remus had significantly different feelings. Ever since we invited them over for the holidays they have been freaking out about meeting our parents. They had been grilling us with questions about our parents, trying to get a feel for what they were like. "What if they don't like me?" Remus asked as we lounged in the common room with Alexa, Sirius, Blair and James.

"Remus, stop worrying. They are going to love you," I told him rubbing his shoulders.

"How do you know that?" he questioned.

"Just trust me. You are a great guy, and I love you, so I know they will too," I reassured him placing a kiss on his cheek.

"What about me Alex?" Sirius asked, his head in Alexa's lap.

I looked to Alexa curiously, waiting to see how she would reply. "They'll like you if you don't screw up," she jokingly told him as she played with his hair. Like the puppy he so happily turned into around Alexa, he nuzzled her stomach and sounded like he was purring. I tried really hard not to say 'aw' after the first time I did; Alexa had hit me in the shoulder, the large knuckle shaped bruise still visible beneath my t-shirt sleeve.

"Padfoot, mate, you should be fine. That is unless, they know about how you punched their daughter in her face and then broke her heart; then you're screwed," James pointed out.

Sirius sat up and put his face in his hands, "Oh, my God, they are going to hate me," he whined. Alexa scooted next to him and cradled him in her arms.

"Oh, Sirius, stop overreacting," Remus told him.

Sirius defensively turned to Remus, "It's easy for you to say, Moony! You are like the poster child for being loved by parents! You haven't physically and emotionally crippled your girlfriend," he said flailing around.

Alexa grabbed Sirius's face and held it in front of hers. "Sirius. Yo, Sirius," she said trying to focus him. "Look at me; focus." Sirius calmed down and locked eyes with Alexa. "Okay, listen, you are going to be fine. If my parents don't like you, it's not the end of the world. I care about you and that's all that matters, okay?" she said trying to pacify him.

Sirius let out a large breath and nodded his head. "I know, I'm sorry," he said. He cupped Alexa's face in his hand and placed a kiss on Alexa's cheek. Alexa blushed, still getting used to being affectionate with Sirius around people. They rejoined the group and settled into the couch, with Sirius's arm draped around Alexa's shoulders. "So, how are the sleeping arrangements going to be?" Sirius asked wiggling his eyebrows at Alexa. Alexa rolled her eyes. "I don't mind bunking with you, but I will warn you now, I tend to hog the covers. Who knows, maybe we won't even be sleeping," Sirius said.

Alexa's jaw dropped. "You are sick!" Alexa exclaimed. Alexa pushed Sirius away and moved to the other end of the couch. "We are so over," Alexa told him.

Sirius jumped up and hopped on to Alexa's lap. "You know I'm just kidding," Sirius told her, trying to change Alexa's mind.

"Yeah, whatever," she said rolling her eyes. "You and I both know that you weren't kidding, but I'll forgive you this time. And get off of me you big lub, you weigh like 8,000 pounds." Pushing him off of her, Alexa allowed him to scoot back next to her. So they were together but that didn't mean the physical violence wasn't going to stop right away.

Sirius hugged Alexa. "Oh, thank you darling," Sirius said, pursing his lips and closing his eyes for a kiss. Alexa just put her fingers to his lips rejecting him. "So, what are we doing today gang?"

I don't know about anyone else, but I, for one, didn't feel like doing anything. "Can't we just eat and lounge around for the next two days?" Alexa asked yawning.

"That sounds smashing," I concurred, leaning into Remus, kicking my feet up and closing my eyes.

After a few moments of quiet, the silence was broken. "Oh, come on guys, this is boring," James complained as he slumped in his chair.

"I'm going to have to agree with James on this one, I am rather bored," Sirius added.

Alexa's narrowed on Sirius. "Be quiet, you have to agree with me, you don't want to do anything," she told him.

Sirius nodded his head obediently, "Yes, dear," he said cuddling with her. Now I know how Alexa felt when she watched me and Remus.

"I think I might go take a nice hot shower," Alexa said standing up and making a decision. Actually a shower sounded very nice right about now, being as cold as it was.

Sirius stood up right after Alexa did. "Sounds like a good idea," he said very excitedly.

Throwing him a glare and pushing him backwards Alexa said, "Sit down."

"I think I'll take one too; my hair could use a good wash," I stated, getting up from where I was sitting with Remus and going over to where Alexa was standing. "Blair, are you coming?" I asked turning to the other third of our group.

"Well, I sure as hell am not staying with this lot," she said sarcastically to the Marauders. Alexa and I snickered a bit as Blair moved toward us. Once Blair was with us, we headed across the common room for the stairs leading up to our dorm.

"Hurry back," Sirius shouted across the room.

Without turning to face them, Alexa waved her hand and shouted back, "Don't get in too much trouble while we're away."

Alexa jumped in the shower first while Blair and I chatted about life and the upcoming holiday on my bed. When Alexa was finished, she emerged from the bathroom in a billow of steam with a towel wrapped around her body and her long wet hair cascading down onto her shoulders. "It's all yours sis," she told me hopping onto my bed. I quickly scurried into the bathroom and closed the door behind me. I turned on the shower to get the hot water running. Just before I was about to step in, there was a knock at the door. "Lyls? Can you hand me my lotion real quick?" Alexa asked through the door. I went over the shelf where Alexa's things were and found that there were nearly a million bottles of lotion of all different kinds.

"Which one?" I yelled back over the sound of the falling water.

"My favorite one! You know, the on that I always use, the one you got me last year for Christmas," she instructed. Oh, yeah, I knew the one. I quickly scanned the shelves for the Butter Cream Frosting lotion. After a few minutes of searching I finally found it. I grabbed the bottle and went over to the door. I creaked the door open just a tad, so none of the cold air would come in, and stuck the lotion through the crack. Alexa grabbed the bottle and said, "Thanks."

I swiftly shut the door and jumped into the shower, shuddering as the water warmed my chilled body. After my hair was significantly wet, I squeezed a hefty sized dollop of shampoo into my hand and worked it into my hair. I rinsed my hair, washed the remained suds off my body, and then turned off the water. Stepping out of the shower I grabbed two towels, one to wrap around me and one for my hair. I twisted my hair up into the towel and then emerged from the steamy sauna-like bathroom into the cooler dormitory where Blair was painting her toenails and Alexa was applying her lotion.

"How do you feel?" Blair asked as she dipped the brush into the neon pink fingernail polish.

"Refreshed," I said. I flipped my head over to release my hair from the towel atop my head. When I stood back up straight Blair and Alexa were looking at me in sheer horror. "What?" I asked getting nervous. "What's wrong?" I asked again. Not a word was spoken, Blair simply raised her hand and pointed one of her freshly painted nails at the towel that I held in my hand.

My eyes slowly shifted from Blair's terrified face to the towel I had just removed from my head. As I lifted the towel closer I saw something brown in it. I unfolded the towel carefully and pulled the substance out; it was hair, my hair. I dropped the towel to the floor, still holding the hair and looked up to Alexa and Blair in a panic. They were now looking at the floor by my feet. I too looked down at my feet and found my hair scattered all around where I stood.

With tears welling up in my eyes, I hesitantly moved my hand to my head. Fearing what I would discover, I placed my hand on my scalp and immediately started crying. The last bit of hair that was on my head fell to the floor as soon as I touched it. I was bald. Bald. Zero hair. Tears continued to fall at a faster pace now. Blair moved off my bed and came to stand next to me putting an arm around me. "Lyla, it's okay. It's going to be alright. We can fix this," she said trying to make me feel better. Fix this? What the hell happened?! "Alexa, tell… her…," Blair trailed off as she looked at Alexa. When I looked at Alexa, I didn't see Alexa as I knew her. Instead, Alexa was swollen all over and was covered in bright red puffy splotches, you could barely even recognize her. "Alexa, your… your skin," Blair stammered out.

Alexa looked at her arms and immediately let out a blood curdling, piercing scream. "What happened to me?" she pleaded. Blair just shook her head furiously in confusion.

"Oh, my word," Blair said gasping and covering her mouth, looking from red puffy Alexa to bald me. I went into the bathroom and quickly discovered that not only had the hair on my head fallen out but the hair on my arms, my eyebrows and eyelashes had all disappeared as well. I was hideous! And when I got to the bottom of this, whoever was responsible for this was going to die. I stormed back into the dormitory, still crying. "What should I do?" Blair asked, trying to make sense of all this. "I'll go get the guys," she said turning for the door.

"NO!" Alexa and I exclaimed simultaneously. "Blair, under no circumstances will you get Sirius. He will have a field day with this," Alexa said inspecting her increasingly puffier skin.

"Yeah, Blair, I don't want Remus to see me like this," I told her through sniffles.

"But, we have to do something," she tried to reason with us.

"No we don't," Alexa snapped, crying a bit herself now. "We will just stay hidden up here for the next two days and then figure this all out when we get home."

"And you don't think your boyfriends will get suspicious when they don't see you for two days when they are supposed to be going to your house for a three week holiday?" Blair asked. Oh, my God, my hair, I thought. My beautiful hair was gone.

"Just tell them we died and that they need to move on. Then there will be no need for them to go to our house for holiday seeing as we will be dead," Alexa stated, touching a small patch of skin that was now oozing.

Blair shook her head. "This is ridiculous, I am going to get them." She quickly turned and ran out the door and down the stairs.

"Blair!" Alexa shouted after her.

"Alex? How did this happen?" I asked.

"Lyls, I have no idea, but this whole thing stinks of a whore named Bree," Alexa said. She was right, it didn't really occur to me before, but this had to be Bree.

Within a matter of minutes, Blair came back into the room with Remus, Sirius, and James peeking into the room behind her. All three of the boys were shocked with their jaws on the floor. Remus moved slowly toward me where I was sitting in my hair on the floor. Sirius came in next, cautiously moving toward Alexa, who was still sitting on my bed.

Remus sat next to me on the floor and looked at the piles of hair around me. I looked up at him tears falling down my face. He put his arms around me and held me in his tight embrace. "Oh, Lyla, it's going to be alright," he told me. I buried my face into his chest and began to sob.

"I'm," sob, "so," sob, "UGLY," I sobbed into his body.

"No, no your not," he assured me lifting my face so that I was looking at him. "I never want to hear you say that ever again, understand me? You are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen, and nothing can change that." I gave him a weak smile at his attempt to make me feel better and he pulled me into another hug.

"But I'm bald," I reminded him.

"Yes, but you are the cutest bald I have ever seen," he said placing a kiss on my bald head.

"Alexa?" I heard Sirius say. "Alexa, is that you?"

"Yes it's me you ass!" Alexa yelled at Sirius. "Just because I'm a freaking puff doesn't mean I can't hear you. God, you are such an idiot!"

"What the hell did you do?" Sirius asked her.

"Oh, you know, I thought I would try out a new look. Do you like it?" she asked sarcastically. "No, you jackass! Do you honestly think that I wanted this to happen?" she said throwing a pillow at Sirius's face. "Why can't you be sensitive like Remus?"

Sirius looked at me and Remus and then back at Alexa, "You still look beautiful," he attempted to redeem himself. Although, if he wanted to make her feel better, he could be a bit more secretive in looking at her like she was going to blow up all over him.

"Nope, too late," Alexa said shaking her head and pushing him away as Sirius tried to hug her.

"How did this happen?" Remus asked.

"It was Bree wasn't it?" James asked, immediately seeing all of this for what it was: payback.

"Yeah, that's what we were thinking," I responded.

"She is such a witch!" Alexa burst out. "And she will pay for her sins," Alexa said with a glint in her eyes.

"Okay, as much as I hate this girl warfare stuff, no one hurts my baby and gets away with it," Remus said rubbing my shoulder. "We need to get Bree back and it's going to take all of us to do it, are you with me?" he asked us all. We all nodded our heads with vindication. "Good, now, let's get you guys fixed up so we can take some bitches down."

I gave Remus a smile and then stood up. "James, will you go get that trunk of potions and stuff and bring that up here? There's bound to be something in there that we can use to fix all this," I said. James immediately bounded down the stairs out of the room. James returned with the trunk in record time and set it down on the floor. I threw open the trunk and started rummaging through it, looking for anything that could possibly help.

Four hours later, when the last patch of Alexa's skin went back to normal and the last section of my hair grew in, everything was finally back to normal. I pulled my fingers through my hair and felt extremely giddy. I was so happy to have my hair back! So happy in fact that I just felt like doing a dance. However, there was no time for dancing, not when you had to plan the demise of the devil.

Bree may think she's won, but she hasn't even begun to realize the hurt she is going to fell. I'm usually not a violent person, but when someone makes me bald, they have it coming to them; payback is a bitch. You know that saying, 'Mess with the bull and you'll get the horns'? Well, I'm a Taurus, and I am going to kick her ass.

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ProngsFlower's Note of Importante: Well, not only did I literally cry from laughing so hard while reading about Bree's retaliation, but I know that you all liked it as well. And if you didn't, well, I'm sorry that you can't see my co-author's beloved genius. Next chapter is Christmas Eve and Christmas Day probably, where they will definitely meet the parents where a funny twist will come into play. And can you believe that Sirius and Alexa are finally together? I mean, it only took 16 chapters but it's all good. Review and Thanks for reading.

Please Review! Peace!


	17. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Disclaimer: Don't own the random facts which came from Google, the song in the title, or the characters that you recognize. I do, however, own the outfit Alexa is wearing in this chapter. Sad that it's the only thing I own, no?

Baby Blue's Note: Well, lovelies, here is the chapter full of little cute topics and Christmas cheer. Okay, it's really just a filler chapter that will lead into the next chapter, but it had to be done and I tried to make it cute with Alexa and Sirius. Anyways, ignore the ramblings because it is 1:21 in the a.m. and I'm pretty much wiped out. Plus, my co-author leaves for a little thing called GSP in two days and won't be back until July! She also may not have access to a computer so UPDATES MAY BE LATER THAN USUAL. Sorry about this, but I'm sneaking my computer to her as much as possible.

Anyways, enjoy the Christmas chapter (in June for us!) and drop us a review please. It's always good to have some constructive criticism. And also because of some issues last time we updated: This story is rated M for language and some situations (not in this chapter though) so if you have issues with that, don't read the story. But feel free to check out some of my other stuff.

Merry Christmas in June!

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_Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas_

_Alexa's Point of View_

"I think, in all honesty, that the Parkers will just have to like me better." Sirius said, gazing listlessly out the window to watch the snow fall down around the moving train. It was covering the tracks faster than we were driving, causing some slick patches that the scarlet train somehow maneuvered around safely. "It's just my striking charisma; it draws people towards me." I rolled my eyes and looked back at my potions book, trying to remember what I would need to know to keep from failing this next semester. I know, I know; it was finally Christmas holidays, which meant no school for three weeks and no studying, but suddenly I wasn't doing so well in class.

This was probably due to the fact that because we were now currently involved, I wouldn't say the word boyfriend until Sirius officially called me his girlfriend, and potion partners to boot I was having some trouble staying focused. Especially since I had started to spend my free periods up in the sixth year boy's dormitories. Anyways, this whole dating thing was very new to me and to say that I was a little awkward was not an understatement. Sure, I had dated Caradoc, but this was someone that I actually shared my life with, so it was weird to be more than just friends.

"If you would just all shut up about it, then you can let our parents choose for themselves. Though, I'm not sure why they wouldn't like Remus the best." Lyla nestled farther into the nest she had made in the corner of the compartment, comfortable in her boyfriend's arms. I envied her for being so secure in her relationship when it felt like for Sirius and I that it was mostly physical. "After all, he's never physically assaulted me or broken my heart." She looked at Sirius, then James, both of whom sulked into their seats.

"Bring that up, why don't you? I thought we had agreed not to mention that during the break?" James whined as he looked up from his card game with Blair and Peter, who had most recently begun to join us again after having left school for awhile to take care of his grandmother. The poor lady had a case of dragon pox, and while I was a little wary of Peter, he was our friend and I would show some support.

Something touched my hand, and I jumped a little as Sirius slipped his hand into mine, smiling at me from out of the corner of his eyes. I couldn't help but smile a little back as I scooted closer to him. "I think that either way it doesn't really matter, so if we could just drop it?" I asked politely as I abandoned my book as a lost cause and used Sirius, who was leaning up against the window, as my pillow while I stretched out on the seat. James looked down at my feet that were currently in his lap and then inspected the bottoms of my snow boots. Apparently they must have passed because he allowed them to stay.

"Anything for you, Lexi," Sirius said while tapping my nose, and I felt myself blush to the tips of my toes as he leaned down to kiss me, effectively stopping my protest of the terrible nickname. A giddy feeling spread over me as his lips brushed mine once, then again, before he pulled back to grin at me. I suppose it should have made me slightly annoyed that he knew exactly what he was doing to me, but really I was just glad that we had finally gotten our shit together.

"In your face!" Blair shouted as she dropped her cards on the table, obviously having won another hand of whatever game the boys were losing in. She looked smug as she leaned back next to Peter, who looked perplexed, and Remus who was reading the _Prophet_ while lightly twirling Lyla's newly regrown hair. As Blair continued to gloat and James rolled his eyes and threw down his cards, I thought about the incident that had happened just a few days ago.

I would have felt bad about the upcoming payback we were planning on serving Bree, but she had turned me into a crab puff with her funny little prank and Madame Pomfrey said the potion James had given me did wonders, but I would still have some residual scaring along my elbows. Lyla, however, had a pretty good end of the deal; while she had to regrow her eyebrows and lashes, plus her hair, it had come back doubly thick and incredibly shiny. Of course, because Bree hated me the most, I got the shitty end of the stick.

Feeling someone's eyes on me, I looked up to see Remus peering at me over the top of his paper. "What are you scheming about over there, Alex?" Lyla's head popped up to look at me and as I studied her, she ran her hand through her new hair. I had caught the rest of the compartment occupants attention as I sat up quickly, almost hitting Sirius in the face. "Don't think about it, Alexa; there are only so few places one can hide on the train."

"Come on, Reems! I promise not to do anything that she'll notice until she gets home and can't come get me." I tried my puppy dog pout, but Remus shook his head. Everyone else looked on in confusion.

"What are you talking about, Al?" Lyla asked while leaving her cocoon to fold her legs and watch me closely. I shrugged and James slid next to me, successfully scrunching me between himself and Sirius. Not that I minded or anything.

"Sounds like a prank, which could lead to trouble," James raised his eyebrows as Sirius continued his sentence for James.

"Which, of course, spikes our interests." Stealthily putting his arm around my shoulder, he began to run his fingers along my collar bone, which was just visible under my sweatshirt, that I had admittedly stolen from him.

Blair rolled her eyes, but leaned closer none the less, "Well, give us the details! Just don't sit there acting stupid," She exclaimed, but the joking tone of her voice and the laughter in her eyes told me she was just excited to be doing something other than sitting bored on the train.

I looked to Remus and Lyla for permission, but they both seemed to be discussing something privately. "Okay," I started, huddling everyone together and making a final effort to get Peter interested in the discussion. Though he didn't seem to care, he joined it. "I was thinking, why not slip something into her snack off the trolley? Something that won't do anything too harmful, but will give her something to remember us by while she's away for break."

"Like hiccupping powder or something equally annoying?" Blair asked while already ticking through our stack of pranking materials that we had stacked up for the jokes we planned on using during the holidays on all my extended family. "We do have that potion that makes a permanent bad hair day," She suggested and I laughed at the thought of her with flipped up hair for their annual cards.

"I like the way this conversation is heading," James said while sharing looks with both Sirius and Peter. "We marauders might just have something spare in our trunks, so we could take a little trip back there if your interested." It was my turn to send a look Blair's way and she nodded almost imperceptibly. It was when we were making to get up that Remus spoke up.

"As much as I want to see Bree go down, shouldn't we give her a reprieve for the holidays?" I looked at him like he was crazy, and went to voice my opinion when Lyla spoke up too.

"It's just that I wouldn't want her to show up at our house and claim it is time for a smack down. She does know where we live after all, Alexa. Blair, please, back me up?" The look on my sister's face was so earnest that I almost sat back down. But then I remembered her without hair and my skin oozing. Nope, I was pretty sure that holidays weren't off limits. Reaching behind me, I grabbed Sirius's hand and hoisted him up with me.

Lyla looked at me, knowing it was a lost cause, while Remus shook his head and put his arm around his girlfriend. "We bid you adieu," Sirius said while regally bowing to our friends before leading me out of the compartment, my face heating up as people saw his hand on my back, comforting and protecting. "Embarrassed to be seen with me, Ms. Parker?" He whispered while leaning down towards me as James and Blair closed the door where Lyla, Remus, and Peter were now talking.

"You wish, Mr. Black. People are only staring because they don't know how you could have ever gotten with a lovely girl like me." I laughed at his puppy dog expression and linked arms with Blair as we led the way towards the back of the train where our trunks were located. James and Sirius were collaborating back behind us and I took the opportunity to pay my friend some attention. "So, are you going to be okay with James staying with us for break? I know it was supposed to be all of us 'together' but I couldn't un-invite him."

Blair rolled her eyes at me and squeezed my arm. "Of course; I'm not bothered by this, Alexa. James and I are friends," As she said this, her eyes went behind us to James who had his head thrown back and was literally crying with laughter at something Sirius had just casually commented on. Catching us staring, Sirius sent us a wink and I shook my head. "We've come to an understanding, I think, and we both are at an impasse if you will."

Nodding, I pondered the formality of her words and knew something was up. I wouldn't press it for now, though. "Anything off the trolley, dears?" The little old lady asked as we came upon her and I thought back to what Bree's favorite candy was. "A couple of licorice wands and some droobles, please," Sirius asked, handing over his coins to the lady. He kept the licorice and then shyly held out the gum towards me. "For you, my lady." I smiled and took it, snapping it in my mouth.

As James paid for both his and Blair's favorite treats (just friends my butt!), Sirius and I walked along not really doing anything in the way of PDA but close enough for me to feel a bit flush in the face. What the hell was up with all this blushing? Was it hot in here? Our group walked around in silence for a bit, the rocking of the train and random bursts of conversation from the compartments the only noise.

James was the one to break the silence, asking quickly about the plans for this mini-prank. "So are we just going to slip her the potion, or are we going to covertly trick her into drinking it?" At the same time, we all blurted separate answers.

"Trick her."

"Covert hiding."

I looked at Sirius skeptically. "There's no way _you_ could trick her into drinking a gunky blue potion. Even if you two did swap saliva she's not going to swallow that for you." The words hadn't sounded so perverted in my mind, but once I said it I realized how bad it sounded. "Never mind, that's not what I meant." I corrected as James and Blair burst into laughter and Sirius smirked.

"And you think that you could stay hidden long enough to hide it in her food or something? No offense, Alex, but you're not the most coordinated person in the world. And you underestimate the power I have on women." He said, proving his point by flashing his 'bedroom' eyes at a few fifth years who had chosen this moment to walk outside in search of the trolley. Feeling my blood boil in my body, I fought my inner green-eyed monster.

Sensing a coming fight, Blair tried to intervene before James opened his big mouth. "You girls obviously don't know the fine art of pranking like Padfoot and myself. It is a science and skill that needs to be honed, so why don't you just let us take over from here?" I sent James an exasperated look as Blair's mouth dropped open in surprised anger.

"Whatever, you are such a pigheaded, testosterone filled bigot, James Potter." With that Blair turned on her heel, marching towards the compartment where we had seen Bree and then a few of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team hanging out. Coincidentally, some of those boys happened to be very handsome and not one James's list of approved people. As he took off after her, defending himself while breathing heavily and trying to get Blair's attention, I turned to my boyfriend.

He was smirking at me and I narrowed my eyes. "Don't you smirk at me, Sirius Black." I took off in the opposite direction of James and Blair, towards the bathrooms that were located near the luggage car. Looking perplexed, Sirius followed me with his hands in his pockets.

"What are you talking about, Alexa Parker?" He mocked, rolling his eyes and gazing in compartments as he went. I heard tittering after a few cars and I glared behind me to see him flashing a smile.

"You are infuriating, do you know that?" I exclaimed while hurrying my steps to get ahead of him. I knew that if I reached the bathroom I could have some peace from my obviously arrogant, man-whorish boyfriend. "Why can't you just lay off the flirting for five seconds when I'm around." I muttered to myself while I heard him hurry to catch up with me.

"I'm not flirting, Alex. I'm dating you, aren't I? Why would I flirt with other girls?" He asked me and then suddenly I was pulled back, flush against him with his dark eyes staring down at me. I struggled to control my hormones as he gazed down at me. Pouting his lips, he gave me his patented sorry face and I tried to look anywhere rather than him so I wouldn't have to cave. "Come on, Al, I worked so hard for you. I'm not going to throw it away."

Sighing, I stopped my struggle and let him pull me into a tight hug. "Sorry for being jealous," I muttered into his t-shirt, smelling that citrus smell I had learned to associate with him. He laughed and the sound rumbled through me from his broad chest. "Sorry for playing up my beautiful features," It was my turn to laugh as I tilted my head to look up at him. He tugged on my ponytail and just like that our tussle was resolved.

I looked around quickly, making sure no one was in the corridor before reaching up and kissing him swiftly, before keeping my hand on his cheek for a moment and then letting go. When I turned to keep going toward the luggage, he tugged me back towards him and then pulled me into an empty compartment. "Did I tell you how sorry I was for being such an arrogant man-whore?" He asked and I laughed as he kissed me again, more fully this time.

As he stumbled down into a seat and pulled me down into his lap, we heard a slight cough and I opened my eyes, Sirius's lips still attached to my own, to see a few annoyed looking fourth year boys. When I pulled away from Sirius, extracting his hands from my hips and climbing off of him while pulling my sweatshirt back down I blushed lobster red while Sirius just looked dazed.

"Sorry about that," I said gesturing to Sirius who was watching the smaller boys with a raised eyebrow, as if they were the ones that had barged into the compartment. "We'll be going now," I said, pulling Sirius to his feet and giggling as he winked back at the boys who were watching him with interest. I tried to stop my giggles from turning into a full out laugh but failed when he made an over-exaggerated hip move to set the boys eyes widening.

Once we had shut the sliding door, I collapsed into Sirius while he laughed along with me. "I think I may have scarred them for life," He guffawed and that set me into more hysterics. When we had finally calmed down enough to breathe properly, I locked my arms around his shoulders and tried my best to not look so lovey-dovey when I stared up at him. While he lifted me up with his hands on my waist to kiss me once more, this time softer and slower, I felt the butterflies in my abdomen again.

My cheeks were pink when we broke apart and I bit my lip while he looked down at me. It still blew my mind to think that he towered over me this much and that we had even gone from constant fighting to this. "Have I told you how pretty you are in my clothes?" He asked and I rolled my eyes at the sweet talking. Grabbing his hand, I tugged him along to continue our stretch to the luggage compartment.

"Come on, this prank is still going down." I said and he followed me like the puppy he was.

When we had gotten the hair charm from Blair's overly stickered trunk, we hustled our asses back to our compartment, finding James and Peter playing cards while Lyla calmed Blair down and Remus appeared to be asleep. I burst through the door, holding up the potion like it was a first place prize and Lyla looked up at me, the light in her eyes brightening.

"Oh, good, you two didn't kill each other." She said and I rolled my eyes at her as James seemed to forget about his tiff with Blair as we huddled around to devise a plan. In the end, it was decided that Sirius would distract the girls in Bree's compartment, much to my disliking, while James hid under his cloak and poured the blue liquid into the middle of a caramel filled chocolate bar that he had taken the caramel out of.

Thanks to Remus finally agreeing that because it wouldn't actually harm her, the potion was okay to use, had agreed to do the swap of the caramel and it was set to go. Peter accompanied Sirius and the boy threw us a wink on his way out the door. "Promise not to get into trouble," I called after him and he just smiled charmingly while Peter waved slightly and they disappeared from sight.

"You two totally made out!" Blair exclaimed as the door slid shut behind the boys and James was positively out of the place. I couldn't contain my smile as Lyla jumped onto the seat next to me. We continued to laugh and jump around before we finally calmed down enough to discuss some real stuff. "Are you going to have sex with him?" Blair just spouted out and my eyes widened as mother hen Lyla yelped.

"God, no." I said while laughing at Blair who was trying to get Lyla to breathe again. "I mean, we just started dating and I don't even know if I love him. Get real," I raised my eyebrows at Lyla who seemed to be choking on air and I smiled. "So Blair, do you think that Little Lyls done the dirty yet?" This sent us into peals of laughter until James finally opened the door, slipping out from under the cloak to reveal a slightly bruised lip.

"What happened?" Lyla asked, while getting out her wand to quickly heal James's split lip. Since we were still on the train she wasn't technically doing underage magic outside of school.

With a smile, James said, "A marauder never tells his secrets." Just as James was explaining this, Remus and Sirius stepped back through the doors with Peter in their wake.

"Which pretty much just goes to say that James scared some seventh year girl in the corridor and she slugged the air pretty hard." We laughed at James's expense while resuming our earlier seats and nearing the station after a short while. As we were pulling on our coats, gloves, and mittens the tension in the compartment began to grow as the moment of truth would soon arrive.

"What if they don't like me," Sirius asked as we stepped off the train together, me grasping his hand and searching for the face that looked so much like my own. Looking up into his nervous gray eyes, I smiled and squeezed his hand as I finally spotted my mother, father, and uncle Scott.

"Don't talk sports and they'll love you." I said as Lyla appeared at my side and we ran together to hug our parents after not seeing them in such a long while. I jumped into my dad, breathing in cigar smoke and scotch, telling me that the Christmas season had already begun at our house. My mother was next, her perfume like fresh lilacs through all the smoke. And then I hugged my favorite uncle who's generous belly reminded me slightly of Slughorn.

"We missed you so much, love," My mother said as she continued to hug Lyla. I grinned happily at seeing my parents and then grabbed Sirius from where he was standing slightly off to the side with Remus, James, and Blair.

"Mama, this is Sirius Black," I told her and very nervously Sirius stuck out his hand for her to take. Instead, she pulled him into a hug and smiled broadly at him. Looking him over, she glanced out her side view towards my father and uncle. "Gary, don't you want to say hello to the boy." More of a command than a question, my father stuck out his hand and Sirius seemed to steal himself up for the moment of truth.

The how do you do's and nice to meet you, sir's were exchanged as Lyla introduced Remus, who in his nervousness began to blurt out several random intelligent facts that were irrelevant but hilarious. Because they already knew Blair and James from this summer, they were welcomed like one of the family. The only real slip up that was made was when Uncle Scott asked James when he was planning on getting in some family time with Blair and the awkward moment they had to explain that no, they weren't dating and yes, they were both okay with staying together.

As we were all milling around the platform, waiting for the luggage to appear from the train, my mother began to ask questions that were pretty much just off the top of her head. She also began to comment on the weather, and then suddenly, "Did anyone know that Shakespeare was baptized on April 26, 1564?" It was silent for a moment before my father looked at Remus queerly and then towards Lyla who was shaking her head and rubbing Remus's back as he looked at Sirius like he'd lost his mind and had wondered who had just spoken with his voice.

"This boy all there in the head, Lyls?" He asked and I laughed at my father while leaning into Sirius's back so Remus wouldn't see me laughing at his discomfort. Blair was all out cracking up, talking to James and Uncle Scott, who seemed to have taking an immediate liking to James. Uncle Scott was a wizard and therefore obsessed with Quidditch, same as James.

While Lyla tried to defend Remus from my father's wrath, my mother rolled her eyes and talked to Sirius and I while we waited. "So, Sirius, we've heard a lot about you from Alexa over this past summer and in her sparse letters home. Always mentions something about a Sirius Black driving her crazy. Now, I'm not sure how things are done in wizarding schools, but when I met Gary he used to tease me a lot as well."

"Mama! Please do _not_ talk about how you and dad used to date. It just grosses me out sometimes. Plus, shouldn't you be helping Lyla with dad?" We all looked over to where my father was listening wide-eyed while Remus's mouth moved and Lyla looked on sympathetically.

My mother nodded and then patted Sirius on the arm before going to help out my sister. "Call me Evon, Sirius, and don't stress out so much. You boys seem to think that we're monsters at the Parker house." She laughed and I rolled my eyes at my mother as she walked a short ways away to where Lyla and Remus were recovering from my father's criticism. He really wasn't that hardcore, but these were the first people we had brought home to meet our parents, and we were still five years old in his eyes.

He did, however, love James when he had met him this summer, so I wasn't going to dwell too much on the rough start. My father, who I was admittedly closer to, looked strikingly the same as me. His dark, chestnut hair had thinned and lost some of its curl, but the hue had remained the same as my own dark locks. His eyes were the same shade of green as my own, yet they were still a little darker around the edges. And he laughed like me, loudly and at sometimes a bit too much.

My mother, who was shorter than even Lyla looked like my grandmother with her short bob hair that was a light honey colored blonde. She shared her blue eyes with Lyla and the same shy smile, but that was about where the similarities ended. My mother was petite and little, while the rest of us were built in a more athletic style. I loved my mama though, so we never questioned why we didn't look the same. Because my mother was a muggle while my father was of magical descent, Christmas at our house was usually just my father's side of the family and was a mixture of magical disaster and trying to retain the muggle tradition.

Blair, who already knew what it would be like, was ready for it all and had already linked arms with Uncle Scott who was regaling her with tales of my older cousin, Tristan, who had been off around the world for a year, hunting dragons or something crazy like that. James, Remus, and Sirius, however, were in for quite a surprise once we got to our house. Sirius was joining us for Christmas Eve and at other times over the next three weeks, but James and Remus got to spend twenty-one days of pure hell with my extended family.

They were in for a treat, because the younger cousins were like Lyla, Blair, and I wrapped into one person that had been shaken around and put on an acid trip.

As my father and Scott went to grab our belongings and put them on trolleys, James pulled my attention from watching the people around me to something over Sirius's shoulder. "Padfoot, looks like the parentals actually showed." Sirius's eyes darkened considerably at this and when he turned his body to face the people I assumed to be his parents, he half-shielded my body with his own. Blair and Lyla appeared next to me as James and Remus stood a little farther back as if to keep the peace.

The woman walking towards us looked so much like her son that it was staggering. Her long black hair was the same ebony hue as her son's and their noses tilted the same way, as did the slight pout to their lips. I found myself wondering that if she just cut her hair a bit and her cold gray eyes lost their half-crazed look if I would be looking at two of the same people.

As it were, Sirius's father looked nothing like I had imagined. The man was slightly shorter than Remus, but had such a commanding stature that he took up twice as much space. His was limping on his left side, walking with a cane that had a family crest on it, obviously feeling as if he had to show off his money for everyone to know who he was. Then without a word, they were in front of us, a house-elf lugging Mrs. Black's coat off the floor behind her.

"Still associating with your mixed group of friends?" Mrs. Black asked her son and Sirius stood up straighter, his face changing to a look of contempt as he stared down at his mother with cold eyes that were altogether unfamiliar to us. Blair grasped my hand as if she was the one Mrs. Black was now berating. "And a new girl in your clutches, as well." She peered around her son to look down at me and I was pretty much scared shitless.

"A mute too, it would seem. Nicely done, _son_," Mr. Black said and Sirius clutched his hands into fists while James put a hand on his shoulder.

"Nice to see you doing well, Mr. Black. Mrs. Black," James said with a nod to each of his friend's parents. The look on his face was stern and stoic as Mr. Black returned the nod with barely concealed loathing. Because James's family was still one of the richest pureblood families still living, the Black's had no choice to remain civil or start a political feud with one of the most notable families around.

"Mother, I'd appreciate it if you would talk to my friends with respect." Sirius said, the acid in his voice practically melting the cold air around us and burning through the nice fur coat his mother was wearing. Mrs. Black's face melted for a minute and a look of such pure hate etched into her features. Then, without wavering, her hand reached out and tugged Sirius by his collar.

"It is time to go. Kreacher," She spoke, her eyes still on Sirius who seemed to be just daring her to do something to him with his eyes, to the small creature behind her who seemed thrilled to be taking orders. It was really sickening if I thought really hard about it. "Take Sirius's trunk to his room at the house, and then rid it of the filth that will be hanging on it from him associating with these half-bloods and wolves," She said while Lyla and I gasped and Remus stepped back. "Nice meeting you, Ms. Parker. I'm sure we won't be seeing each other again seeing as my son likes to be loose with the women. Although I won't be sorry to see you go; mother's a muggle, isn't she?"

"Yes, she is. And there's nothing wrong with that." I defended, stepping out from behind my safe spot of Sirius's shield. No one, not even this scary crazy lady would insult my family.

"Yes, well," Here she stopped and looked over at my mother who was happily talking to a woman she had probably just met, "Count your blessings while they last, I suppose. Muggles and half-bloods will find their places soon enough."

I stood shocked as Lyla gasped and Sirius made a move to go near her before his father stepped up and hit him rather hard in the stomach, making it look like Sirius had accidentally run into him. "You will respect us in public, whether you still are considered our son or not. Say goodbye to your friends, Sirius." With that they walked away and I practically jumped into Sirius to check him for harm. Although we had watched thee whole scene, I felt as if they had hurt him somewhere other than what we'd seen.

"They're horrible, Sirius. Stay with us over break, please?" I asked him while he hugged me for a long time and James and Remus cuffed him on the shoulders.

"Can't. They'd go crazy and search me out. Then my punishment would be even worse." As my eyes widened, Sirius hugged me tight before releasing me. "I'll be at your house for Christmas, don't worry. See you lot then," He said before walking towards where his house-elf was muttering to himself while the boy I knew to be Sirius's brother stood on and watched. I kept my eyes locked on the trio until they vanished out of sight and then turned back to my friends, where Lyla locked her arm around my shoulder and pulled me towards the column that would put us back into the muggle world.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the Black family. Not only are they as dark as their name implies, but they treat the only good person to come from that place as if he was vermin." James said while we waited in line as my father and Scott argued good naturedly with a younger Gryffindor student's father about sports.

"It never gets any better," Remus muttered as Lyla moved up to him to wrap her arms around his waist and tell him he was more than the Blacks would ever be. I looked over at James who smiled at me and then gave me a one armed hug.

"He'll be there with us for Christmas, Alex. He can handle it, trust me. Now, let's meet your crazy family."

"You're in for a treat for sure!" Blair said as she held onto my hand and then we jumped through the column and into the bustle going on at Kings Cross. My head, however, stayed back on the platform with Sirius, thinking of the look on his face as he faced down his mother.

Determination to take that bitch down.

--------

"And then they told us that the Great Wall of China isn't one large slab of wall, but it was actually built in separate pieces during different reigns of Chinese dynasties." I had to stifle my smile as Remus told us all about what he knew of the Great Wall of China. Apparently, it was actually one of the Seven Wonders of the _Medieval _World. James nodded along with Remus good naturedly, while discretely trying to hide the end of his broomstick from muggle eyes.

"That's fascinating, Remus. Please, continue, continue." My mother urged Remus who looked relieved that at least one person found his astounding behavior to be interesting. It seemed like her main goal, however, was to see if Remus knew what he was talking about or if he was just fooling her. It did seem a little weird that a sixteen year old boy would be able to retain that much information. Lyla stood beside Remus, smiling up at him encouragingly and probably trying to contain her laughter.

The only reason she probably wasn't laughing is because he was so nice to her when she looked like a Siamese cat. Whatever. This short walk between Kings Cross and the small neighborhood we lived in outside of Camden didn't seem to be as awkward as I thought it would be either. Instead of the stilted conversation I thought would take place, James was keeping a steady flow of words with my father, as Blair and I entertained Scott and Remus kept my mother and Lyla busy.

As James finished regaling a tale of some debauchery, my father brought up the testy subject of Bree. "I thought she was coming to stay as well, Alex. Isn't she usually here with you three girls? The Fantastic Four?" I groaned at the impossibly cliché nickname my cousins had come up with four us over the past few years and then banged my trunk extra hard over the sidewalk.

"She's not with us any longer," I explained and my father blanched while Scott and Blair caught up with us in time to laugh at the nature of my words.

"Did you kill her, Alexa? Or was it just some sort of accident that was never solved?" Scott asked me and I made a face at my uncle as he laughed along with my father and James. "Bree was the girl who looked like quite the book worm the last time we saw her, correct? Not so much as Lyla back there, but still not any less studious than my youngest brother's kid?"

"Bree; a bookworm?" Blair asked and stumbled a little over her trunk. With James's help, she righted herself and then carried on the conversation as we turned into the side street where our house resided. "I doubt if you saw her now you would even recognize her for what she was."

My father's questioning looks had me explaining in more detail as we turned through the gate at the end of our sidewalk. Several cars were parked in the driveway and I smiled as I looked at some of the painted on details that came from my father's extended family. "She's pretty much a backstabbing whore and we're not friends anymore. We won't be friends anymore." There was a cough behind me and I turned to look into my mother's stern eyes. "It's not mean if it's true!" I argued.

"Though it's still not a very nice thing to say." She walked ahead of us to where our wooden front door was open on the inside, the magically heated screen letting us see the people inside. The side street we lived on was an area of Camden that was strictly magical. I should probably clear this up now; my father is a pureblood wizard from around Scotland though he had moved to London during his second year in Hogwarts, while my mother is a muggle from the greater London area. When they met during my father's winter break of his seventh year, he knew he wanted to marry her right away and told her he wasn't like regular people.

Surprisingly, she didn't run away and leave him as crazy and they were married pretty soon after that. So, they moved into our cottage in Camden and had us. Now, every break chances were my father's family was always over. My mother's family (consisting only of Grandmother and Aunt Suzanne) had disowned my mother shortly after she became pregnant with Lyla, saying that because she had gone against the families wishes by marrying my Scottish father she was of no use to the family anymore.

Not that I minded. I loved my three uncles, two aunts, and eight cousins that would run around the house while we were home. Somehow I felt that without them there it would be lonely, too quiet. So seeing as everyone was already here for the duration of the holidays, as we stepped in the house it was extremely lucky that Blair chose that moment to brush melting snow off her shoe or her face would be missing a nose as a fanged Frisbee came wheeling through the air.

"Alex!" I hear a tiny voice scream and my mini-me, Claire, jumped into my arms causing me to stumble backwards into James and drop my trunk near Lyla which caused a hold up.

"Cee, you've grown!" I laughed as my youngest cousin, Claire, smiled happily into my face. Having just turned four, Clair (or Cee) looked like the spitting image of me as a child. Her chestnut hair was a wavy mess and her green eyes glittered with childhood excitement. As her hand fisted into my hair, I saw her peak over at Remus and James like they were foreign invaders. "Cee, this is Remus Lupin and James Potter. They'll be staying with us for holidays."

Spotting Remus's arm intertwined with Lyla's, Cee stated the obvious. "They're like mommy and daddy, Alexa. Hello, Lyla." Lyla smiled and returned the greeting, giving Cee a peck on the cheek before following my parents into the den of confusion.

I put the kid down on the floor while moving the trunks out of the entrance walkway and near the stairs that led to the guest bedrooms and then the attic where Lyla and I shared a room. The basement held a few more bedrooms, the 'parlor,' and a game type room where the kids usually hung out. On the ground floor was the living area with a TV. and large couches, plus a roaring fireplace. There was also the kitchen and my parent's bedroom.

"Well, come on, James. Blair's already met everyone, but now it's your turn and then we'll show you your rooms and such." Cee led the way as she took James's hand in her own smaller one and walked him into the den where everyone was sitting around waiting for the guests. Blair and I walked in after him to see that everyone was already jumping up and causing a big commotion.

Linda, who was my father's sister and had married Jim, who had gone to Hogwarts with my father, were hugging Lyla while their two sons, Matthew and Xavier (who were twins and had just turned thirteen) tried to look cool while really freaking out that two of the four marauders were at the house. Their other daughter, who was ten going on eleven this week was sulking in the corner with her kitten.

"How's it feel to be turning eleven, Eleanor?" I asked while I went over to cheer her up and she looked up at me while petting Twinkle. Yes, that is the things actual name. She shrugged and I gave it up as a lost cause while going to talk to my father's oldest brother Timothy and his wife Zoë. They were Claire's parents and also had an older daughter who was fifteen named Lidia and an older son named Tristan, who had spent the last two of his nineteen years dragon hunting.

While Zoë asked about school, my friends, and occasionally hinted at Sirius, I watched Scott smile happily at the Christmas tree while telling stories of grand adventures to Claire, Matt, and Xavier. He did it all with help from Remus, who seemed to have gotten his habit under control for now, and James who had Claire in his lap. Scott was my father's middle brother and his wife Jenny had died when I was ten from cancer.

Their children, Monica who was sixteen at the time and Brock, who was only two, were at their grandmother's for a few days before they would join us. Monica, who was now twenty two, would be bringing home her fiancé for the first time thus guarantying some extra hoopla. Excusing myself, I walked into the kitchen which was only separated by the den from a bar type area. Grabbing a gingerbread man from the counter full of snacks, I leaned against the bar to watch my family.

It was a minute before I realized that the thing that didn't feel right about all this was the fact that Sirius wasn't here with me. It was weird that even though it had only been a few days since he had told me he wanted to be my boyfriend, how I felt about Sirius was way stronger than what I had felt for Caradoc. Someone leaned up against the counter next to me and I saw Blair's chocolate hair before she came into focus.

"This is so hectic, Alex. I love your family so freaking much! And Linda is some kind of wizard in the kitchen." She spoke fast and peppy like she did when she was excited and bit the head off her frosted snowman cookie while sighing happily. I laughed at the thought of Linda actually baking and not using her magic, and then Lyla joined us from across the bar.

"I'd forgotten how old everyone has gotten. And did you here Tristan going on about slaying dragons? He's more of a four year old than Claire." I smiled at my cousin who was talking to Remus and he waved back at me in salute. It was hard to believe that my favorite male cousin had been away for the past two years, because it seemed like only yesterday that he was graduating from Hogwarts and telling us about his crazy idea.

I nodded along, looking over at James who was holding onto Claire whose eyes were wide and her little hands were gripping his t-shirt while she listened with rapt attention to whatever he was saying. "How about we show everyone their rooms and then we can eat and stuff?" I asked Blair and Lyla who nodded and then we entered back into the chaos. "James, Remus, we're going to show you your room if you want?"

Remus excused himself from the conversation he was having with Tristan and James set Claire down on his empty seat next to the fire. "Dinner will be ready in about half an hour," My mother called out after us and Lyla acknowledged her by waving to the rest of the family and then joining us.

"So, will we get to stay with you beautiful women, or must we be reduced to bunking together?" James asked as we hauled our trunks up the stairs and onto the balcony type landing that looked out over the downstairs.

"I do believe that you will each have your own rooms, but they'll be connected and then Sirius will have to bunk with one of you when he gets here." Lyla explained while turning to the two unused guest rooms on the left side of the hallway. "Pick your poisons and then we'll show you our room." Lyla said and Remus raised his eyebrows at his girlfriend.

"So if you show us your room does that mean you want us to make some trips up there?" Lyla rolled her eyes and hit Remus lightly while opening the door to his room and pushing him inside before shutting it behind him. "That's not very fair, Lyla, this room is even more girly than most of the girls dorms in Hogwarts." I laughed, thinking that Remus probably had the misfortune of sleeping in the jungle room. The room was exactly what its name implied and while it was neat, it scared me a bit to wake up in the middle of the night and see monkeys staring at you.

Lyla knew this as well and laughed when she opened the door and went inside to help Remus get settled. She left the door open as I opened the door to James's room and led him inside. "This shall be you home for the next three weeks, Mr. Potter. That door there leads to the bathroom that also connects you to Remus. The shower shall only be used when the other does not occupy the bathroom. We also expect you to be on your best behavior," I spoke in a posh voice then giggled with Blair as we fell onto the bed.

James rolled his eyes and set his trunk down before pulling out his wand and waving it so that things flew out of his trunk and into places around the room. "With all these magical people in one place, they'll never be able to tell who did it." He shrugged and I rolled my eyes. The ministry was usually less strict in the all magic neighborhoods, but I figured James already knew that and was just telling Blair, who lived in a muggle neighborhood.

"Well, somehow I don't think it would be that big of a deal anyways," Blair said sleepily while curling up with one of the many pillows lying on the bed. James laid down in the middle of us, draping his feet off the end. He also closed his eyes and while I stared at the ceiling, I heard laughter from the hallway. There was a slight click and then a flash before I realized that Lyla had snapped a picture of all of us.

"Muggle photo or regular?" James asked while sitting up on his elbows. Blair, who seemed to really be asleep, laid completely still while James and I got up to continue the tour. "Come on, Bear, let's go do something fun." She rubbed her eyes sleepily, pulling down her sweater and then climbing on James's back for a ride. Lyla and I exchanged a look, me rolling my eyes while Lyla narrowed her own.

We led everyone down the rest of the hallway, before Lyla opened the secret panel in the wall that led to the attic room in which we slept. So our room wasn't really like a traditional attic, but was a finished room with a large balcony out the top window and a slanted ceiling. The walls were each painted a different color while a mural of a tropical sunset lined part of a wall. Two beds took up space on opposite ends of the room and I walked over to my bed, the one with the rainbow covers, that was the farthest away from the door, but closest to the balcony.

"This is the shit," Remus spoke bluntly and we smiled. It was good to be home and I jumped on my queen sized bed while James and Remus looked around at our walls, where over the years we had written song lyrics, jokes, and practically anything that struck us at the time. Near the middle of the room, on the wall painted green, was a collage of pictures. Some were muggle, some magical, but all of them were of our friends and family.

Blair took residence on the trundle bed that we had taken apart and then remodeled into an actual bed which was located in the corner near Lyla. "Have a quick look and then we'll go get dinner." Blair said while the boys looked around and made jokes about the durability of the beds and finally made their way to the balcony. I began to unload my trunk, throwing my mostly summer clothes into a pile to be sorted out and cleaned.

My good belongings, such as the jeans and sweaters I always wore, went into a pile to be washed and returned to my trunk for the rest of the year. I was about halfway finished when the pounding below us started to get louder before finally, a knock on the door revealed Xavier. "Evvie says that you should get your asses downstairs if you want to eat in the near future." I rolled my eyes as Lyla chased Xav back down the stairs.

"Try not to make any random comments over dinner," Lyla told Remus as we prepared to enter the dining room that was by now packed full of all the family waiting to start dinner. Remus nodded, looking slightly paler than he had when it was just the five of us.

"Just channel Sirius," I offered and Lyla sent me a stern look while James said, "That's probably the last thing you should do." Knocking him with my shoulder I fired back. "Just because you've won everyone over with your smooth talking doesn't mean that we're all impressed."

He stuck his tongue out at me and I rolled my eyes at his foolishness before pushing open the swinging door and taking my seat next to Claire. "Is James coming to dinner?" She asked while tearing the inside out of a roll and molding it into a ball. She looked expectantly at the empty spot next to her and I smiled.

She got her answer as James walked in and sat next to her, while across from him Lidia sat up straighter.

Blair sat in the seat next to me while Lyla sat next to her, leaving Remus sitting across from Blair and in between Lidia and Eleanor, who looked excited to talk to the one person she deemed smart enough. Dinner, of course, was an affair to remember. All throughout, whenever subjected to speak to an adult, Remus would spout more random conversation. This would include, but was not limited to, walking (At a stride of 30 inches per step, you would have to take 2,112 steps to walk a mile) and Bulgaria (Apparently they have the world's slowest population growth since 1950).

After every random fact there would be a minute of reflection from whomever had asked the question, which was usually as simple as could you pass the peas, and then they would carry on as if they were extremely interested. This was probably on the suggestion that my mother had given everyone after Remus's earlier encounters. There was also some weird flirting going on between Lidia, who went to Beauxbatons but still seemed to know all about the Marauders, and James who seemed to be enjoying all the interest. Whether it was from a four year old who thought he hung the moon or a fifteen year old beauty queen (hey, she's my cousin. I tell it like it is,) he seemed to revel in it.

By the time dessert was served, Lyla and I were in tears over Remus and Eleanor fighting over Pablo Picasso's full name. Soon however, the debate ended as Remus relented and let Elle have his last piece of cake in surrender. A few hours later and we were back in our room, getting ready for bed and it was as I fell asleep that I heard Blair mumble something in her sleep that I hadn't heard her say for about a month or so. And it was something that I didn't think I would have to hear for perhaps forever.

"I love you, James."

-------

"Okay, everyone please tone it down a little before Sirius gets here? We don't want him to go running before he steps in the door," My pleading fell on deaf ears as my family continued to wrap gifts and place them under the barren Christmas tree. It was finally Christmas Eve and Monica and Brock had joined us earlier, making a huge commotion start in the house again as Monica introduced her fiancé Todd. Sirius was due to arrive at any moment and the only person that wasn't throwing wrapping paper or making noise was my father.

Standing next to me, he stoically watched the front door which at this point was probably going to light on fire from the glare he was throwing at it. "Please, daddy, be nice to him. I really do like him now," He raised his eyebrow while crossing his arms and throwing my begging out the window. "Why can't you go back to thinking Remus was the weird one?" I muttered and for the first time since I told my parents Sirius was coming over shortly, he smiled and laughed.

"Remus is a fine kid. Just because he's knowledgeable about things that people don't always know doesn't make him weird, Alex." Rolling my eyes, I pulled my light green sweatshirt down so that the sleeves covered my knuckles. Fidgeting in my knee length fuzzy grey boots, I made sure my black leggings were straight and then stopped myself. Sirius knew what I looked like even on my worse days so why was I worrying so much?

There was a ring that went through the house, and I smoothed out my curls that Lyla had actually fixed for me this morning. My father nodded at the door and I opened it quickly, ready to pull Sirius inside and get the introductions over with. However, when I saw him standing in the doorway, I stopped short and my smile fell from my face. "What the bloody hell happened to you?" I asked bluntly and my father rapped me in the back of the head.

"Hello, Mr. Parker." Sirius said, ignoring me and bringing his trunk inside behind him as my father shut the door and sent me a look. I shrugged back and then took Sirius by the arm and dragged him into the hallway before my family could see him. "Alexa, listen, it's not that big of a deal, okay?"

Scoffing, I reached up to gently prod the bruising around his very black eye. "Not that big of a deal? Sirius, you look like you've been mugged and I'm almost positive that your shoulder shouldn't be that swollen." I took this opportunity to push his shirt sleeve up now that he had taken off his jacket and coat. Suddenly I wish I hadn't. "Oh, my god! What happened to you?" I repeated as the yellow black bruise seemed to pulsate at the site of a very nasty cut.

"I'm fine, okay? Let's not make a big deal out of it and just take me in there to see your family." Pulling his sleeve down, he put his jacket back on over his grey t-shirt and then took my hand in his as I stared unabashedly at his blackened eye. "Stop staring at me like I'm a piece of meat or I'm going to think that you're only using me for my looks."

His attempt at jokes failed as my mood darkened, but nevertheless, I dragged him into the living room to make introductions. Figuring that he would just have to deal with all the craziness and chaos going on eventually anyways, I was surprised when things settled down when we walked in. Maybe it was the bad shape my boyfriend appeared to be in, or the fact that I even had a boyfriend, but the quiet hit like a hurricane.

"Everyone this is Sirius Black," I turned to look at Sirius who was smiling charmingly at my family and then to my family who were in varying degrees of shock and being impressed. "Sirius this is my everyone. That's Linda, Jim, Eleanor, Claire, Tristan, Matt, Timothy, Zoë, Lidia, Scott, Monica, Todd, Brock, and Xavier." He looked a little overwhelmed as I went around the circle and then he waved at everyone as if he was actually nervous. If I hadn't been so curious as to what happened to his face, it would have been cute.

After the hello's and such were made, Sirius went to join James, Xavier, and Lidia who were all wrapping what seemed to be an invisible present. Lidia, it seemed, was already set on whoring herself to my boyfriend and the rush of _jealousy_ I felt was unwelcome. There was a tug on my sweatshirt and I looked down to see Claire smiling up at me. Picking her up in my arms, she pointed over to Sirius. "Your Sirius is very handsome, Allie. Is he your sweetheart?"

I smiled at Claire while picking my way through the rubble that was my living room and over to where Remus, Lyla, and Eleanor were sitting. "I guess so," I told her and then I noticed the way that Eleanor was cozily wrapped up near Remus, pointing something out in a book that was a bit to large for her to really comprehend. "New crush or does she really need to read that book?" I asked Lyla who rolled her eyes.

"I don't really know, nor do I really think it matters. All I know is that now that Sirius is here, Remus seems to have bumped from being a nerdy awkward child to manly-let's throw the football-teenager. Dad even stopped over here to converse." I looked over to my father who was sitting on the floor next to my mom and singing along to the radio while Linda laughed and told old stories of when they were growing up.

I raised my eyebrows and Lyla nodded over to where my uncle Timothy was also striking up the conversation with Remus. "He seems to have gotten that whole spouting out random things under control." I mused and it in fact seemed that with Sirius here to be the new toy, Remus had been able to get over his initial awkwardness around our family. It was funny that he'd even had that awkward bout anyways, seeing as he was always the level-headed friend in a crisis.

"Speaking of awkward situations do you have any idea what happened to Sirius?" Both of us turned to look to where James and Sirius were regaling tales of misconduct to Matt, Xav, Brock, and now Claire who had once again taken place in James's lap. When Sirius glanced up and caught us looking, I felt myself blush and turn away while trying not to linger too long on his black eye.

"His shoulder is worse, Lyls. I'm really kind of concerned. I mean, he wouldn't really get into a fight with anyone before coming over here and meeting everyone for the first time but he also won't tell me what happened. He doesn't want to seem weak." I mocked, while once again sparing my boyfriend an annoyed glance. If he really wanted me to trust him, why couldn't he trust me enough to just tell me what the fuck had gone down.

I said as much and Lyla contemplated this for a minute before giving me the advice I wanted. "Why don't you just ask him that, Alex? I mean, really what can it hurt if he gets mad. At least he'll know that relationships work both ways. And if you had enough guts to let him meet your family then he should have enough to let you know what's going on.

"Besides, this could clearly ruin his chances with some of our family. You know how worried everyone gets whenever something happens that could involve us kids. Dad won't like this either, and while I hate to admit that you may be Scott's favorite, he won't like it either. Tristan's already given me the talk about Remus so you might want to take care of Sirius before he gets to you."

Getting up from the floor, I pulled my long sweatshirt back down to about my mid-thigh and then picked my way through cousins and parents to where James and Sirius were still conversing. Cee, who was now falling asleep in James's lap, looked at me wearily as I sat down between Sirius and James. Probably seeing the look on my face and being able to judge what mood I was in, Matt and Xavier got up to go down to the game room, pulling Remus away with them while Eleanor looked furious. Tristan, Blair, and Lyla were all rooted around the fire eating from the trays that my mother, Linda, and Zoë had set out.

When I was positive that the parents were intrigued in wrapping presents and telling stories, I turned my attention to Sirius who was watching James with raised eyebrows as he talked to Lidia and Brock. Leaning my head against his good shoulder, I waited until he turned his attention towards me to speak. "Relationships are two way streets, Sirius. And I know you want me to trust you when you say that you won't hurt me again, but I also need to know that you trust me."

"Which goes to say that you want the truth about what happened to me." He stated, sighing and then lifting my chin off his shoulder to look at me fully. "You look like Claire, you know that?" He asked and I smiled at him while nodding. With another sigh, he turned me slightly away from everyone so we wouldn't be over heard. "What you need to know is that there's nothing you can do about what happened so don't get riled up."

"I promise not to get too pissed off when you tell me what happened unless it's something really bad." I amended and he cocked an eyebrow at me with his grey eyes glittering. "Fine, I won't get _physically_ angry," I tweaked and knowing it was a loosing battle, he just rolled his eyes. Running a hand through his immaculate ebony locks, he began.

"My parents and I don't really get along which I'm pretty much sure you saw at the train station. They're bigots and pure-blood idiots who take stock in the whole extermination of the less superior. If you ask me it's all a bit like what that sadist Hitler did to the Jews but they only see it as bettering society." He rolled his eyes, clenching his hand into a fist and then wincing when the motion twanged his shoulder. "Anyways, over break they mentioned something about the full moon and whether Remus would hurt any of you or not.

"I guess I just freaked out and then suddenly my dad and I were fighting. Without realizing it, I sent a spell at him which he thankfully only caught the tail-end of because he's old and it probably would have caused him some real damage. After that my mother got a hold of me while I was still in shock over attacking my own dad."

"You didn't mean to hurt him though, did you Sirius? It's not like you were going to kill your own father. Sometimes accidents happen; surely your mother realizes this?" I tried to soothe him but he shook it off, standing up and walking into the kitchen. I quickly got up to follow him, ignoring Blair's looks and my mother's own concern shining through.

"My education hasn't just happened at school, Alexa. I've learned spells that aren't taught for reasons and while I didn't _mean_ to hurt him, I wanted to." Sirius turned around towards me and I saw the agony in his eyes over the thought that he'd wanted to do something to harm his own family. "Don't get me wrong; my _family_," He stressed the word in a mocking tone, "is nothing but screwy. My dad though has always stood between my mother and I when things get bad. I just can't do it anymore, Alex. And so this was sort of the last straw and my mother took the opportunity to do some damage."

I wrapped my arms around him and he locked his own around my waist. "I'm so sorry, Sirius. Really I am and I want to say I'm sorry about your mom and dad but I can't because they deserve whatever you did to them." My anger bubbled up as I looked up from Sirius's chest and saw the damage his _own mother_ had done to him. "I'm just really sorry they hurt you."

"I understand, Al, and it's not like it's your fault so don't get upset please." I nodded while really still getting upset and planning on doing some heavy venting to Lyla and Blair after the two days of Christmas were over. "You can do something for me if you want to make me feel better though," He said and the hint of smugness in his voice told me the heart to heart was over and he had bared all the emotion he could for the day. It was progress though, and I was happy that Lyla seemed to have all the answers, much like her own boyfriend.

"And what's that?" I asked while looking up at him. I got my answer when his lips hit my own and I tightened my arms around him. The kiss lasted for only a moment however as Scott and Tristan entered the doorway to bring out more food.

"Hey, hey!" Tristan shouted while we broke away and my face colored the same color as Scott's maroon sweater. "No kissing near the food; we don't want contaminates." I rolled my eyes as Sirius laughed and then helped bring more eggnog out to the den. Everyone had gathered again and seeing as it was getting darker outside I knew it was time to start to decorate the tree. As we all crowded around our real pine tree to hang lights and tinsel and ornaments, Lyla and Blair took their spots next to me.

My dad and Timothy started to argue about how to string the lights and we all laughed when a full out popcorn war began when Tristan aimed at Lidia, missed and hit Xavier instead. Soon, James and Sirius were also teaching Matthew how to blow air with a strange contraption that continued to send Blair's skirt ruffling as it tried to flip up in the air. Luckily for all of us, she had tights on under the brown skirt and it didn't get more than a few inches up from where it should have been. Nonetheless, it was still very funny.

Finally, after a wave of a wand, the popcorn was put back onto it's strings and the lights were hung as my mother went into tree planning mode, delegating jobs and diffusing the tension between Eleanor and Claire as Twinkle got stuck in a tug-o-war. The poor cat was so strung out it slunk away, sending Claire into tears and Eleanor to her sulking. As we were putting the ornaments onto the tree and Sirius lifted me up to put a star near the top of the tree, I realized why I loved Christmas so much.

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AN: Well, kiddies, wasn't that just full of Christmas cheer? Once again my lovely and talented co-author has produced a marvelous work of art. As she mentioned earlier, I will be away for a summer program for five weeks. I will definitely be working on the next chapter, but whether I have access to a computer and internet will determine when you get the next chapter. Enough rambling, I hope all of you are well, and please REVIEW!!!

Peach out!


	18. Christmas round Deux

Disclaimer: Don't own it, but if we did, I'm sure people would have to wait forever for seven books with like 900 pages each. How does she do it?

Author's Note (BabyBlue): Well, gents and ladies, I know that I'm not who you'd expect to see this chapter from seeing as the evens' are supposed to be my co-author's but because she's away for five weeks, we have decided that I would do a little filler chapter for you all. It's not as long as a regular chapter, nor does it really have any point except to do a little fluff for you Lyla/Remus, James/Blair, Sirius/Alexa fans. However, once she gets back next week, the story will get back on track and the chapters will hopefully be able to get straightened back out for everyone. So, please, enjoy this chapter and let us know what you think!

Okay for those of you who may not understand part of Sirius's present. It is my understanding that in our story we have said that Sirius plays Quidditch. This is true, however, I like to believe that he has been on probation since the incident with Snape that we said takes place in their fifth year. He still practices however and is still on the team, but he doesn't play in the games. So, I hope that clears it all up for you! And sorry if it doesn't sound plausible, but it does make sense in our minds.

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_All I Want For Christmas_

_Alexa's Point of View_

"I think it's beautiful," Sirius said with a hint of a smile as he put his un-bruised arm around my waist and pulled me to his side. The tree could barely be described as anything less than a mess, but considering the family that had just done its best to put it together, it didn't look too bad. And if you ignored the way that it leaned slightly to the side and the angel on top was flashing her skirt around, it was a pretty normal tree. The ornaments were mostly handmade, but some of my mother's finer glass bobbles were catching the light and shining rainbows into the fire.

Wrapping my arms around Sirius to get more comfortable, I nodded into the fabric of his grey t-shirt while the rest of the family mused. "A little rough around the edges, but there's something nice about it," My mother conceded as my father raised an eyebrow at the way the tree was leaning.

"Scott, do you think that if we," He let his sentence trail off as Scott took a closer look. Nodding his head in the affirmative, the two brothers went off in search of whatever they thought would be best to help the withered tree hang correctly. James sidled up next to us, watching Tristan and Blair talk on the other side of the tree.

"Maybe it would help if most of the ornaments weren't on just the left side," He murmured and I laughed along with him.

"It might also help if Claire didn't insist on making poor Twinkle climb the tree every now and then. She really is sweet though," I said as I watched the child in question carry around Eleanor's kitten by the scruff of his neck and then squeeze the defenseless animal so hard its eyes seemed a bit bulbous. Eleanor, however, didn't seem too worried as she stood in between Lyla and Remus and tried unsuccessfully to get Remus to pay more attention to her.

James watched the small crowd that was my family members and then crossed his arms over his chest. "Speaking of sweet kids, what about Matt and Xavier? Couple of piston's, no?" I rolled my eyes at the mention of the twin boys who had taken to sticking to Sirius and James like leeches. Either they had heard about the Marauders at whatever school they went to or they were just enamored with the two enigmas.

Sirius's bark-like laughter rumbled through his chest, momentarily filling my head as I continued to hold on to him. Merlin, I hope I didn't look clingy. "More like a couple of Marauders. I mean I knew I had seen them in the Commons a few times, but had I known they were related to this bunch," He shrugged and I watched James watch as his sleeve rose a bit on his bicep to show the slight yellowish bruising.

Then what Sirius had said sunk in. "Seen them around the common room? What are you talking about? I thought the boys went to some other magical school in London?" James and Sirius both looked at me oddly before erupting into laughter that brought the rest of our group over. Removing my arms from around my boyfriend's waist, I folded my arms across my chest and raised my eyebrows at the two guffawing boys.

"What are they on about now?" Blair asked while standing farther away from James who looked to be crying in laughter. "This wouldn't be about the fact that someone kept blowing my skirt around my waist during the tree trimming would it James?" The hazel eyed teen shut his trap quickly and visibly shook himself from his laughter while Sirius's own mirth settled slightly, though the laughter in his eyes whenever he glanced at me was still very much there.

"Haven't the foggiest as to what you're talking about, Bear." James said as he studied his fingernails. Rolling her eyes, Blair hit him across the shoulder and then took a seat on the ground. I joined her as the rest of our troupe did the same.

Remus decided to pipe in with his own question. "So it wasn't you and Sirius who were showing Xavier and Matt just how much air to blow without making it look like it was on purpose? I guess my imagination just got away from me there then. My apologies guys," The apology didn't seem too sincere as Remus's eyes twinkled with mirth. Blair now glared in turns at James and Sirius, the former stumbling to apologize and the latter continuing to laugh at his friend's misfortune.

"Don't be laughing, you dog. If I didn't know any better I'd say you were trying to get a look up my best friend's skirt." I told Sirius while punching him lightly. He caught my hand as I pulled it back and kissed the back of it, acting in true gentleman fashion. I smiled and rolled my eyes, but allowed him to keep hold of my hand.

"Yes, of course, but I am not the one that didn't know that my own _family_ didn't attend the wonderful Hogwarts. Am I?" He asked me with the twinkle still in his eyes and I took my hand back. Lyla laughed at me openly and I looked to both Remus and Blair to see if I could find some sympathy. Blair had managed to break her glare for a few moments to laugh at my predicament but Remus was staying my true friend by smiling at me and keeping the smirk off his face.

Getting up, I made like I was going to sit beside Remus. "Well, I know how you all really feel so I'm just going to go sit with my only _true_ friend. You've got my back, eh Reems?" The boy in question shook his sandy blonde locks and I smirked at my other friends but before I could get anywhere, the annoying boy that seemed to follow me everywhere tugged on my sweater dress sleeve.

The puppy dog look worked its magic on me and I sat back down reluctantly. Sirius, however, looked smug in his ability to win me over. Whatever, I'm blaming the hormones that seemed to be in the air ever since Monica and Todd got here. I looked up from my pout and to my sister who was sitting across from me in our slumped and square like circle.

"You must admit that it is funny that you've never noticed them. I mean, the twins are in their third year. Not to mention that they're in Gryffindor and you must have noticed them occasionally." This last statement was more a question and I shrugged while pulling my sleeves over my hands and crossing my arms. I nodded my head and she smiled while biting her lip to contain more laughter. "Really? I find it almost impossible to believe."

"Yes, well you do know how I like to zone out whenever anyone is talking to me for lengthy periods of time." I said and even some laughter escaped me before I caught myself and assumed the pout position again. Sirius took this opportunity to lean in close.

"Do you zone out when we're together? Because occasionally I'll," He whispered something in his deep voice and as my face turned cherry red, I gasped and tried not to let my mind wander back to when this deed may have happened. When I realized he was just yanking my chain, I punched him again but harder this time and turned to face him while James cat called.

"Just because I'm letting you date me does _not_ mean you can talk like that. Specifically around people that are my family and could hear you and kick your ass from here until next Thursday!" My voice had reached a high pitch that gave way to how embarrassed and dare I say it, intrigued I actually was. If my appalled face wasn't enough to do it, the way I faltered at the end of my sentence was enough to put my friends over the edge and laughing again.

"You must have a way with words, mate, to have rendered dear Alexa speechless," James choked out as he continued to laugh and was falling about the floor in a fit. I narrowed my eyes at him and tried to calm the redness in my cheeks as Blair and Lyla mimicked my stunned face and giggled uncontrollably. Thank you, Sirius Black, for giving them something more to inquire about when everyone was gone.

"A regular Shakespeare with words, our Padfoot. Perhaps he could write us a book on wooing women, Prongs." Remus said as he shook with laughter. _Well, I'm glad my misfortune could brighten your day, Mr. Lupin. I thought._ Outside my head, however, I just continued to pout as my family turned to see what was going on and then wrote us off when they saw that, hey, it was just Alexa getting the mickey taken out of her again.

Sirius, trying not to laugh, slung an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close while I tried to remain stoic. He seemed pretty proud at himself as he made an acceptance speech. "Well, gents, what can I say but that I am an eloquent genius with words and that a charming fellow such as me must know some tricks." James and Remus pretended to worship Sirius's presence while fawning like firsties.

"You are so funny," I said before getting up and walking into the kitchen. The laughter faded into pleas of Please come back and I'm sorry, but I ignored as I bit the head off a gingerbread man. Pretending it was one of my male friends, I dunked it in a pitcher of milk before biting off more.

"Pretending that's me?" I heard Sirius ask from the kitchen doorway as the door swung open and shut again, giving the only access to the den from the window type bar way. Ignoring him, I continued to eat my anger away on the poor man between my fingers. I was sad to say that the only part left was his little torso and one arm. "Come here, Al. You know I'm just kidding."

He sat his chin on my shoulder while wrapping his arms around me from behind and encasing me in his arms. I sighed as I sat my cookie down and leaned back into his hold. "You're going to cause me to go ballistic and do illegal things to you." His resounding laugh sent my mind wandering as he squeezed me.

"I can't say I'm going to complain." He said and I turned around to look up at him. Pushing some of his hair out of his eyes, I put my hands on his shoulders and looked him squarely in the eye, hoping I could keep my stoic face for a few more minutes. Picking at his t-shirt, I responded, "Yes, well, I'm hoping to drag your murder out for a few days, so I hope you won't nag much." He stopped for a minute to look at me seriously and I just continued to busy my hands.

"You evil witch," He said and I heard the kitchen door swing open as the rest of our friends walk in. "Well, I see you have things taken care of," Lyla said as she swung her hand in Remus's and raised her eyebrow at us.

Pulling out of his arms, I hooked my arms through Lyla's free one and Blair's opposite one as I drug them through the kitchen and out the other door into the hallway. "I was just telling Sirius about how I was going to drag his murder on throughout several days," We led ourselves towards the direction of the basement where we kept the presents we were going to give to each other as the boys filed out of the kitchen in much the same manner as us.

"Oh, so just the usual holiday spirit," Blair said lightly and I shrugged before turning back to smile at James and Remus and look maniacally at Sirius. He puppy dogged me until I turned around though by no means was it going to get him out of the slight trouble. He would need an especially delicious present to get back in my good books.

As we stumbled down the stairs leading to the basement or as my family deemed it the 'child zone,' I noticed that James had gotten very quiet at the mention of what we had all gotten for one another. "So I think the youngest should get to go first because, you know, they just seem to be the most favorite out of all the children," I said nonchalantly and Remus knocked me on my head.

"I don't really see that happening, Alexa, because to me it seems like the middle child is definitely the most favored." I crossed my arms as I sat on a beanbag around the downstairs fire. There was laughter as Remus and Blair, the 'middle' children sat down around me on their own respective chairs.

"Well, I don't even have to guess when I say that the oldest children are the best and we always have been." James said as he took a spot on the floor after piling many blankets on the ground and pulling off his sweater to reveal his button down shirt. I vaguely wondered if this was the shirt Blair had given him for his last birthday and then realized it didn't matter. "Am I right?" He asked the group and there was a general rolling of eyes as everyone shoved around.

Sirius sat down next to James in the pile of blankets and as Lyla took a seat with Remus she chose to answer James. "I'm not going to lie and say that the oldest child isn't the best, but I think that if we all just open them starting with Blair," Here, James let out an odd sound and we all looked at him rather curiously.

"Do you need a throat lozenge, Jam Jam?" Sirius cooed sweetly from where he sat next to his best friend. James pretended to act like nothing had happened while simultaneously scooting father away from his mate, who had taken to stroking James's fluffy hair.

"I'm fine, thanks. But do we really need to start with Blair? I mean why don't we all just pile the presents into the middle and we can all pick one out and then give it to whomever it goes to? Because to me that seems like it would be more fun and all and we wouldn't have to each take turns. We really would be taking turns though," James continued to ramble on as we looked on blankly. Finally, Remus took pity on him by tossing his gifts into the middle of the pile.

With a thankful smile, James did the same. I reluctantly put the rest of my presents into the pile and when we were finished, the only person left with a gift was Sirius whose gift had holes in it. "I can't put it in but I will wait my turn." He said whilst shrugging and we let him off the hook as Lyla reached in and grabbed a present from the pile.

"Here's a funny surprise; to Blair from James." The aforementioned boy looked crestfallen as he sunk farther into his nest and Blair looked excited as she took the wrapped gift. We watched with anticipation as she tore the snowman wrapping off, careful not to rip any of the winking snow people. The first box was opened to find another box on the inside and Blair laughed as she reached inside to pull out another wrapped box.

I looked over from my spot to see James's face lit up, and not red from heat. It was a rare occasion to watch James get so flustered and we continued to alternate between Blair who was continuing to open the numerously wrapped gift and James who was growing increasingly red. At last, when she was surrounded by wrapping paper, Blair looked up at James with a stunned face.

"I bought the present before we broke up, but I figured I could still give it to you because we agreed to be friends and everything and I don't want it to be awkward between us all," James was cut off as Blair launched herself into his arms for a decidedly friendly embrace. Hanging off her wrist was a beautifully cut silver chain with two different charms; one was presumably a locket shaped like a star and the other was a little ornament that had the words _Forever and Always_ carved into it.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Potter. It's beautiful." The awkward moment between the two ex-lovers was broken when Lyla began to shriek. As we all turned to look at her, she was pointing at Sirius's box menacingly and clutching onto Remus. "What's wrong, Lyls? I mean I know my present is the shit but you don't have to scream." Blair played off while looking like she was trying not to laugh.

Lyla continued to point at the box that Sirius was now holding between his hands protectively. "That thing just moved. What the heck are you trying to give my sister, Black?" She said while sitting up on her knees. Sirius, who looked appalled, continued to hold my present which I could tell was now moving as Lyla had said. I, of course, became rather curious when I saw the box squirm rather roughly.

"Don't forget that I'm the one that is planning _his_ untimely death, Lyls. Now, Sirius darling, hand me over the box before I have to pry it from your cold dead hands." My friends looked at me awkwardly as I tapped my hands together like a mad man. "Oh, come on! I'm just kidding you guys." Grabbing Sirius's wrist, I pulled with most of my strength to get him to come closer to me. Reluctantly, he got up from his warm cocoon and sat next to me.

He plopped down on the bean bag, sending me in the air until we weighted out and while he was distracted I grabbed the moving box. "Be gentle with him, Alexa!" Sirius cried and I bit my tongue for the perfect that's what she said but stopped when I heard something inside the box. It sounded like a faint meow and when I tore the top off, I saw the most beautiful kitten ever. He was huddled up against the side of the box and when his curious eyes saw the lid had been opened he turned his scrunched up face towards me.

I cooed as I scooped the small kitten out and held him close to me. His coat was furry and black with his little paws a pristine white that was also on his ears. Save for those small patches of paleness, he was completely ebony. The kitten began to meow as I cuddled him again and then a soft purring was heard as I stroked his soft pink nose. Blair and Lyla jumped up to where I was sitting and began to pet the small cat while shoving Sirius out of the way.

"It's so cute!" Blair squealed as I sat him in my lap and he blinked up at everyone. She lifted her hand to the curious being and without hesitancy he shoved his head up against her to make her resume petting.

Lyla also decided that the new pet was worth holding; and even though she wasn't particularly fond of felines, she reached out to pet him anyways. "Who's a cute little kitty?" She purred to the kitten as it meowed again and dug into my sweatshirt. Well, maybe cats didn't really like her either. She rolled her eyes and then looked to where Sirius was sitting on the floor dejectedly while the boys made fun of him.

"The dog went out and bought a cat!" James was guffawing as he rolled around in his nest and Remus was smiling wryly at Sirius who was blushing around his ears. "It is humorous that you would buy a feline when you are particularly canine, Padfoot." Remus said and once again, we had no idea what the boys were on about again.

"I'll have you know that Little Sirius is a very capable cat and that he was the best thing in that pet store." Sirius defended while reaching over to stroke "little Sirius." Wow, even in my mind that sounded dirty. Then I realized what he must have already named the little beauty.

"You named _my_ cat Little Sirius? Did you not maybe think that I might want to have some say about what my pet's name should be?" I asked him but Sirius seemed not to notice as he lifted the kitten out of my lap and rubbed his nose with the cat's. I rolled my eyes, but I couldn't help but melt a little when he looked so cute. Curse him for knowing how to turn girls into putty.

As he put the cat back in my lap, Sirius leaned up to kiss my forehead. "Maybe, but now you'll always think of me." He said cheekily. Rolling my eyes, I waved my hand for everyone to continue on with the gift giving. Sirius picked up the next gift and handed it to Remus. "To Moony from Prongs, happy Christmas." he read out and Remus opened the gift happily before pulling out a large slab of ginger chocolate and a pretty blue sweater.

"Oh, it matches your eyes perfectly!" Lyla said as she took the sweater while Remus tore open the chocolate. "Thanks, Prongs, this is going to really help when it comes." James shrugged while smiling and I was about to ask what the heck they were talking about but Blair had grabbed another gift and chucked it at me. Luckily for Little Sirius, I grabbed the box right before it hit his fuzzy black head that was now resting on my knee.

"To Alex, from Blair. I don't know how you're going to beat the tickets from my birthday," I told her as I opened the gift and pulled on the fabric of what looked to be a shirt. The first thing I noticed was the emblazoned 'R' and 'S' that stood out in bright red coloring. "Thanks, Blair! I really needed a long sleeve shirt and you just happened to pick my favorite type." I told her as I held the shirt up to my body and struck a pose.

"What can I say? I'm pretty much all knowing when it comes to presents." It was my turn to pull out a present and as I grabbed at a large present in the middle, I toppled over into the pile. Laughing at my expense, Lyla grabbed my kitten from the pile of paper and tugged on the present I had been pulling at.

She tossed it to Sirius with a huff. "That's from me." She told him and he gave her a regal bow as he opened it, pulling out a helmet. He looked at her oddly before I pushed my present towards him. He untied the ribbon that adorned the box and with quick fingers pulled off the top and dove around the packing paper inside. As he pulled out the set of robes with an even stranger look on his face. The look continued around the circle before Jams took mercy on him.

"Well, the next gift is from me, my family, and Remus. It's a new broom since you trashed your other one and a chance to play with the team again." Sirius opened out his arms as if they were going to be able to hand it over right away. "You can't have it until after everyone else is done opening their gifts dumbass." James told him before picking up a box and smiling to himself. "Oh! To James from Blair and Alexa. I wonder what it could be."

The knowing look on his face told me that Blair had possibly let out the secret of what his gift was. Knocking her on the side of her head, I threw my hands up as James ripped off the packing paper to find a new set of Quidditch robes and a broom servicing kit. He winked as me as he stood up to try his new robes on. "I hate you," I threw out. It was, however, ignored as Remus handed Lyla the gift that was from him. I was pretty interested in seeing what this was considering Remus was pretty tight lipped.

My heart stopped for a minute as Lyla opened the gift to find a jewelry box; too small to be a necklace and not wide enough to be a bracelet. With shaking hands, she lifted the lid of the box while Remus waited with baited breath. At least, I thought he wasn't breathing. I sure as hell wasn't and it looked like Blair was holding her breath as well by the way she was gripping the arms of her chair. "Oh, Remus," Lyla whispered as she took out the gold-banded ring and held it in the light.

"It's a promise ring," Remus said shyly and she blushed as she put it on her ring finger. "It's just that I know we've kind of said it in passing, but I really do love you. And I know that we've only been dating for a few months and not that many out in the open and all but," Remus took a much needed breath and looked up at Lyla who if I didn't know any better had tears in her eyes. "I love you and I want people to know it."

"I love you too, Remus!" Lyla said as she embraced her boyfriend. Blair and I let loose with the aw's while Lyla smiled giddily and flashed us all her ring again. I noticed that what appeared to be a simple gold band at first was actually studded with diamonds and pretty blue stones that glittered in the firelight. "You didn't have to buy such an expensive ring though," Lyla said as she continued to admire the bling.

Remus blushed a bit darker while he looked down and mumbled the next part to their entwined hands. "I didn't spend much, just enough to get it cleaned really. It was my grandmother's actually." This had the opposite effect to what Remus must have been expecting because Lyla really did start crying here. "What's wrong, Lyls? Please, don't cry." Lyla shook her head and wiped her eyes while her smile widened.

"No, it's not anything bad. I'm just so happy that you care for me that much." The relief on Remus' face was clearly visible as he wrapped Lyla in his arms and held her. It was so sweet that it was amazing they didn't go into a sugar-coma right there. It was awkward for a moment as the rest of us just kind of watched and then Little Sirius dug his little claws into the actual Sirius and the moment was broken as he cursed my cat.

Lyla wiped her eyes before kissing Remus and then reaching into the pile and pulling out a gift that was addressed to Blair from Sirius. "It better be something good," Blair threatened my boyfriend as he tied a ribbon around Little Sirius like a collar. He smirked at Blair before pointing to the cat in his lap and then me.

"I give the best presents." He said with inflection and we all laughed while I shook my head and took my kitten before it could be corrupted. As we all continued to open our gifts, which included mostly more clothes, some earrings, and gobs of candy, I mostly forgot about why I was planning Sirius's demise and I actually began to enjoy his company. It was kind of surprising, even though now when I got frustrated with him I could just snog my troubles away instead of hit him to make myself feel better.

We were all congregated in sections on the basement floor, wrapping paper balled up and used as ammo spread around us like a battlefield, when Matt walked down the stairs and found us. "Gary says that we can all get to sleep if you guys would like to join us in the living room to wait for Santa?" I could see the light in his eyes while he tried to hide how excited he really was in front of the Marauders. He gave up all pretense however as Sirius grabbed my hand and scooped me up.

"Come on, Alex; the faster we get upstairs and go to sleep the faster we get presents!" I rolled my eyes at my boyfriend but I jumped up anyways, taking Little Sirius with me as I raced the real Sirius up the stairs and into the living room where most of the children were congregated. As per usual, boys were on one side while the girls occupied the other. "Look, Eleanor, Twinkle has a new friend," I told my cousin as I sat down next to her and found my favorite sleeping bag.

Lyla and Blair joined me not too long afterwards and we left the boys to the other side of the room as we left the living room to get our pajamas and pillows. When we reached our room and the door was shut, Lyla let out a huge squeal and fell onto her bed. I laughed at my sister and went into the bathroom with my pajama pants and shirt to change and wash my face. "You two are so bloody romantic that it's almost sickening," Blair said as I turned the water on and splashed my face with water.

"It's not my fault that my boyfriend loves me and gave me his grandmother's ring." She jumped off her bed as I came out of the bathroom freshly washed and with a toothbrush in my mouth. "I just can't believe that he loves me enough to give me a promise ring." I got out of her way as she shut the bathroom door and continued to talk to herself. Throwing my clothes down the chute and taking my toothbrush out, I threw my hair into a ponytail and joined Blair on Lyla's bed.

When she came out of the bathroom, I shrugged my shoulders and tried to look nonchalant. "Maybe it's his grandmother's holocaust ring." Blair shrieked with laughter as I rolled around on Lyla's bed and tried to dodge her beatings. "I'm sorry! I take it back; mercy," I cried through my laughter. Lyla continued to beat me with her hairbrush before a knock, more like pounding, came through the door.

"Remus has no trace of Jewish ancestry in him, Alex. Lord, a holocaust ring. Are you insane?" She looked at the pounding door before calling out, "Enter!" Remus entered the room, followed closely by Sirius who looked as if he'd seen a ghost. "You look as if you'd been given a fright, Sirius." Lyla state while Remus wrapped his arm around her.

"Indeed you do, Black. What happened to you? It's like you've just seen the ghost of someone from the past." I elbowed Blair who smiled and took my hint.

"Maybe a grandmother?" Lyla rolled her eyes as Blair and I cackled on, but her look right before we asked Remus about his Jewish descent stopped us. "So really, what's wrong with you Sirius?" The aforementioned boy came and laid himself between Blair and I on Lyla's bed. Then he shuddered and buried his face in the covers. I rubbed his back for a minute and then tapped him a few times. He relented and mumbled his explanation into the covers.

"Sorry, love, I didn't quite catch all that." I said and he rolled over with a sigh. He placed his hands over his eyes as he spoke, like it would help him with the humiliation. "Your cousin, Lidia, just came on to me. Like she literally walked over and sat herself in my laugh to see if I was _interested_." I tried not to laugh for a minute, and then despite my better judgment, I relented. Just the thought of Sirius with _Lidia_ in his lap made me gag.

"It's not funny, Alexa." Sirius said as Blair started to join in on the laughter. "Your cousin sexually assaulted me and you are laughing at me. Thank you, you are officially the best girlfriend in the world." He flopped back onto the bed and I massaged his shoulders while continuing to laugh.

"I know it's not funny, babe, but it so is. I mean, I can only imagine Lidia," I couldn't finish the rest of my sentence through my laughter and it was only after Sirius got up and stalked off that I could calm down. Jumping off the bed, I followed after Sirius before meeting him in the living room. Lidia was nursing her wounds in a corner it looked like and the rest of the clan just seemed to be milling around.

I wrapped my arm around Sirius, then made sure Lidia was watching as I kissed him. "Maybe she'll wait till I'm asleep to attack. Or maybe you'll wake up in the morning tied to her bed. That'd be a real Christmas treat." I whispered in his ear. Sirius growled before pushing me out of the living room and giving me a real kiss.

"Not funny, Alexa."

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AN: Well, kiddies, nothing like a bit of Christmas in July. I hope you enjoyed this segment, and I will get my part done as quickly as possible. I apologize for messing up the order of things, but I will be back in a weeks time and will be ready to write! Hope you all are well, and please review for us?

Peace,

Amulet Girl


	19. Sirius, Shut Up A Little

Disclaimer: We own nothing that you recognize, except of course for the wonderful creativity and beautiful characters. :)

AN: Well hello there! I apologize for the messed up chapter order and for the very long wait. And to make it up to you I have made this chapter super duper long. So I hope you enjoy what I've put together for you lovely people!

AmuletGirl

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All during our Christmas holiday, time had been somewhat of an odd concept. What with my family and my friends running around all the time, it was hard to tell where one day ended and the next day began. I never knew what day it was or what time it was usually; but frankly, I didn't care. I was enjoying being around the people I love so much, that I never wanted it to end, and knowing the date would only make me realize that this time was slowly ticking away. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end; I was quickly reminded one evening as we all relaxed up in mine and Alexa's room.

"The moon looks to be about full," Remus said somberly, starring out my window; watching the sky as if he was waiting for the moon to jump out from the sky and consume him. I grabbed Remus's hand, which was lying still next to me on my bed, and gave it a reassuring squeeze. He gave me a weak smile and then returned his gaze to the taunting sphere lighting up the night's sky.

"According to _Witch Weekly_, the full moon is in two days and apparently my horoscope is amazing because of it," Blair informed us, much too joyful about the upcoming days. Then again, it wasn't really her fault. I hated keeping things from Blair and Alexa, especially things as huge as Remus being a werewolf, but it was not my secret to tell.

However, I have no idea what I am going to tell Alexa and Blair when James, Sirius, and Remus disappear for a few days only to return beaten up and scarred. Never mind Alexa and Blair, what on earth was I going to tell my parents? What would they say when they find out that their daughter is dating a werewolf? I knew this day would come at some point but I didn't realize it was going to be this soon.

As Sirius and Alexa began to argue about something petty, I took advantage of the distraction to whisper to Remus. "It's going to be alright," I told him quietly, seeing the stress all over his face.

He placed his arm gently around my shoulders and pulled me closer to place a kiss on the top of my head. After a few moments of silence between us he said, "We should probably tell them." He looked over to where Alexa and Blair were now wrestling Sirius to the ground as James sat by idly laughing his ass off and Little Sirius swatted at Big Sirius with his tiny, delicate paws.

I looked up into Remus's eyes in surprise. "Are you sure?" I asked. "You don't have to tell them if you don't want to. I can just make something up when you guys have to leave." Remus just smiled and shook his head.

"No, I don't want you to have to lie for me anymore. Blair and Alexa deserve to know, and I know that I can trust them." We looked back to where our four friends were flailing about on the ground and Sirius caught our eyes as he struggled to break free of Blair and Alexa's hold.

"Oi, Moony! Would you mind getting up off your lazy ass and helping me, since this incapable git refuses to help," Sirius said signaling to James. James bellowed with laughter as Remus got up off my bed and cautiously walked toward Alexa, Blair, and Little Sirius, who were watching him carefully, looking like lionesses defending their cub from a predator.

"Remus, if you come any closer, I can assure you that you will end up in the same position as young Sirius here," Alexa warned menacingly. Remus threw his hands up in surrender and slowly backed away to sit next to James on the floor.

Sirius looked at Remus and James with a frustrated and betrayed look on his face. "Thanks a lot, Moony. At least I know now those amongst us who are whipped," he said looking at James and Remus, "and those who aren't," now signaling to himself.

"Oh, Sirius, shut up; or I'll never let you up," Alexa barked at him.

"Yes dear," Sirius said in fear, as James and Remus erupted in laughter. "Come on, Alex, please let me up. I will do whatever you ask of me. Haven't I been humiliated enough? Not only have my best mates turned against me but you turned Little Sirius against me as well. Do you know how it feels to have your own cat hate you?" Sirius asked.

Alexa smiled victoriously, "Hmm…. Lyls, what do you think?" she asked me as I threw a pillow and a blanket on the floor to lie on.

"I say, stop torturing the poor boy and let him up; he has suffered enough," I told her. She nodded her head and stood up from Sirius's back where she had been sitting. Blair did the same and Sirius let out a sigh of relief. Blair and Alexa quickly rushed over to where I was sitting and got under the blanket with me.

Sirius rolled over on his side, clearly tired from the whole ordeal, and said, "Well, I now know who my true friends are." He flashed me a grateful smile. "Lyla, I am forever grateful, and to show my gratitude, I give you the esteemed honor of being my best mate."

"Oh, Sirius, how can I ever thank you?" I jested.

"No need to do anything, the look on your face says it all," he said wrapping his arms around me to squeeze me. When Sirius finally released from his 'best friend' hug, as he called it, Remus cleared his throat.

"Um… since we're all gathered together without the rest of the family, I would like to say something, confess something, if you will," Remus said rather nervously. James and Sirius simultaneously looked at Remus and I tugged at the oversized maroon sweatshirt that I was wearing.

Alexa and Blair just seemed confused by the whole ordeal. "Reems, are you trying to come out of the closet?" Blair asked. James and Sirius laughed a bit and even Remus laughed as he shook his head.

"No, no, it's nothing like that; I can assure you that I very much like girls," he said giving me a smile. I felt for the beautiful sapphire ring that Remus had given me for Christmas and took comfort in the fact that I would always have a piece of Remus with me. "I don't know if you've noticed, but there are times during the school year when me and the other Marauders disappear and aren't at school for a couple days." Alexa and Blair looked at me, questioning my knowledge on this subject, but I quickly averted my eyes and continued to fiddle with my ring.

Alexa next looked to Sirius who unfortunately met her gaze with a nervous look. "Remus, what is this all about? Sirius?" Alexa questioned, starting to get a little worried.

"Will someone please tell me what's going on?" Blair pleaded. "You guys are really starting to freak me out with all this seriousness."

Remus let out a sigh and let his head drop. "Okay, I'm just going to come out and say it, just promise me you won't freak out," Alexa and Blair nodded their heads. "When we leave school, we go to the Shrieking Shack so that I can change into a werewolf away from the other students." Alexa and Blair's jaws dropped and they sat there utterly speechless. "James, Sirius, and Peter are all animagi and go with me to help keep me under control." Alexa and Blair now looked to Sirius and James. "I'm telling you all this because, as you know, the full moon is coming up and because I think you two have the right to know," Remus finished, studying Blair and Alexa's faces to see how they were taking the news.

Alexa slowly turned her head to look at me. "You knew about this?" she asked. I nodded my head. Alexa looked down at Little Sirius who was curled up asleep in her lap and stroked the top of his head. "I'm not going to lie and say that this didn't shock me a bit, because it totally did, but I also have to say that I'm not entirely surprised. I have always had my suspicions, but I always thought it was just my imagination running away with my mind again." She looked up at Remus and gave him a sincere understanding smile. "So, you guys will leave and then come back, no big deal."

Remus laughed a bit, "You are just like your sister." Alexa gave me a smile. "It amazes me how neither of you find anything wrong with this."

"Why would I?" Alexa asked. "You're still good old Remus, and the nickname does make a bit more sense. I will say that I'm a bit hurt that we didn't find out about this sooner, but I understand why all the secrecy. But you two," she said, now turning to Sirius and James, "I can't believe you didn't tell me you were an animagi. I'm your freaking girlfriend Sirius! I thought we were supposed to share everything with each other."

Sirius leaned back on his elbows, clearly more relaxed now that they secret was out and said, "Thought wrong, love. Some things are just better left unsaid. For example, when you puffed up because of that stuff Bree gave you, to be honest you looked a right mess, but I told you you looked beautiful anyways."

Alexa picked up a nearby pillow and chucked it at Sirius while being careful not to wake Little Sirius, who was snoring softly into Alexa's grey sweatpants. "You are such an ass," Alexa spat at him.

"So, how exactly will this whole full moon thing work?" Blair asked, speaking for the first time since the news had been broken.

Remus sat up a little straighter, "Well, the day of the full moon, Sirius, James, and myself will leave here and go to the Shrieking Shack. There I will change, and once I change back, we will wait there until we recover and then return here," Remus explained.

"Why don't you just come back here to recover?" Alexa asked. "You would be much more comfortable here than the Shrieking Shack anyway."

"Alexa, how would it look if the three of us turned up at your house, after mysteriously disappearing, with cuts and bruises all over our bodies? Needless to say, I think your family would be a bit suspicious," James spoke up.

"Well, you'll have to tell our parents won't you?" Alexa questioned looking at me and Remus.

"Yes," I said. "No," Remus said at the same time. We both looked at each other. "What do you mean 'no'? I asked.

"What do you mean 'yes'?" Remus questioned back. "Lyla, if we tell your parents, tell me honestly how you think they will react to hearing that their eldest daughter is dating a dangerous werewolf."

"I'm sure they'll be a little freaked out, but Remus, they won't care. I know that you're not dangerous and that you would never hurt me and I will make my parents see that as well. Plus, my parents have a right to know about all this." Remus cradled his head in his hands and began to rub his temples. I slowly got up from my spot and made my way over to him. I gently knelt down beside him and stroked his head, "Don't worry so much, everything will be fine; trust me.

He looked up at me with loving eyes and said, "You're right, I know you're right." He cupped my face in his hand and pecked my lips.

Alexa raised her hand, "Okay, so, I have another question. What part do you two play in all this exactly?" she asked James and Sirius.

"Well, Padfoot and I transform into our animagi forms and we make sure that Remus doesn't leave and we try to calm him to make it easier," James explained.

"Why do you have to change forms?" Blair asked very curiously.

"While we're in animal form we are under more protection than if we were merely in our human state. It's also easier to control Remus if we are in a similar form," James told her.

"So, what are your 'animal forms'?" Alexa asked.

"I am a stag," James said proudly. "And Sirius is a—,"

"Oh, but James," Sirius interrupted, "I think I would prefer to keep my animagus a secret." He gave a mischievous smile to Alexa.

"You would," Alexa said with a huff. "Why are you always so secretive and weird?" she asked.

"To be honest, it's all just a part of the charm that I inherently posses," Sirius said hautily.

"Charm? Please. What you posses is definitely not charm," Alexa argued.

"Oh yeah, well I don't see you complaining when we--," Sirius said with a sly smile.

"Sirius!" Alexa cut him off. "Let's keep our private matters private, please." Sirius and James exchanged devious looks while Alexa blushed the same color as my oversized sweatshirt. "So, anyways," Alexa continued after clearing her throat, "when do you two plan on telling mum and dad?"

"Well, seeing as we don't have a whole lot of time, I suppose we should tell them sooner rather than later," Remus logically stated, however, I could hear the averseness in his voice.

"Why don't you just go do it now," Alexa suggested. "This is really the perfect time if you think about it. Pretty much everyone is winding down for bed, so there won't be a lot of people hanging around; and you know mum and dad always have tea before they go to bed." Remus and I looked at each other, waiting for the other person to make the first move; deep down we knew neither one of us would move.

"Go on then," Blair prodded. "Just get it over with, it will all be fine. You just have to do it and stop thinking about it so much otherwise it will never get done. Like a band aid, if you rip it off quickly, it's much less painful."

Silence struck the room once again. I kept telling myself to stand up and go talk to my parents, but it seemed that my legs were ignoring my brain. I honestly believed that everything was going to be fine; but then the voice in the back of my head reminded me that I have been wrong before. Damn that voice. I looked up and saw that Remus was standing in front of me with his hand outstretched to help me up. I grasped his hand gently as he pulled me up onto my feet. Our hands still clasped, we made our way toward the door leading out of mine and Alexa's attic loft.

"Good luck," James said as Remus opened the door. We both turned back and gave them all a weak appreciative smile and then exited the room closing the door quietly behind us. We descended the numerous stairs that separated the ground floor from the attic and as we passed between the floors we found that most people were indeed headed to bed. As we stopped in front of the swinging door that led to the kitchen, I suddenly felt my stomach ball up and twist uncomfortably with nerves.

Remus and I looked at each other and looked into each other's eyes as if we were searching for a way out of this situation, but of course, no such thing was found. Letting go of Remus's hand I smoothed down my messy hair and pulled down my sweatshirt so it sat properly over my leggings. I took a deep breath and then Remus pushed open the door, revealing my father and mother sitting at the kitchen table with a pot of tea on the table.

"Well, hello there Lyls, Remus," my father said setting down his cup of tea and smiling at me and Remus as we entered through the doorway.

"Is everything alright?" my mother asked.

"Actually, we were wondering if we could have a word with you two," I said trying to overcome my nerves.

My mum and dad looked at each other and exchanged curious and worried looks. "Of course you can have a word with us; by all means, have a seat," my dad said signaling to two empty chairs at the table. Remus and I quickly went over and occupied the empty seats and then my dad spoke again. "So what can we help you with?" His gaze shifted between me and Remus, with the occasional glance at my mother who was listening intently.

Remus gave me a look and then turned his gaze upon my father and mother. "Mr. and Mrs. Parker, what we have to tell you, I'm sure, is not going to be easy for you to hear. You may be upset, worried, and even want me out of your house after I tell you this, but you have to know that I love your daughter very very much," he said giving me a quick smile, "and that she means the world to me."

My father's face hardened, "What exactly did you do boy?"

I quickly jumped in seeing where this was going, "No, daddy, it's nothing like that." His face relaxed a little but he continued to eye Remus skeptically as my mother sat quietly observing the whole thing.

Remus continued, trying to choose his words carefully. "As you know, the magical world is not only inhabited by just witches and wizards; there are also goblins, vampires, and werewolves, as well as many others." He paused and took a deep breath looking down at his fingernails. "Um, the full moon is in two days, and um…" My mother gasped as she put the pieces together. "… I just thought I should warn you before that time comes."

Silence hung in the air for what seemed like hours. Finally my father spoke, "Lyla, how long have you known that Remus is a werewolf?" he asked me.

Not realizing that my father was speaking to me, it took me a moment to process the question. "Since before we started dating," I told him.

He nodded his head, looked over at Remus and then looked back at me. "And the fact that he is a werewolf doesn't bother or frighten you? Are you not fearful that he will hurt you?"

I looked to my mother who was waiting anxiously for my answer. As I answered I didn't look at my father or mother, but instead I looked to Remus. "No," I said simply. "It does not bother me in the least bit and it never will. I have never feared for one second that he would ever hurt me. I know that he loves me and that he would never bring any harm to me. If anything, I worry that he will get hurt." Remus looked down and shook his head. My father was watching me with narrow eyes and for the first time this since we entered the kitchen I met his gaze with confidence and conviction.

My father then looked at my mother who was looking rather proud. "Well, alright then," my father said coolly, breaking the burden of silence. Remus looked up from his hands and had a questioning look in his eyes that were asking if what was just said was real or just in his imagination. "Remus," my dad said next, "you are welcome to stay in our house as long as Lyla wishes you to stay, but Evon and I will have to ask you to leave during the full moon, seeing as we have a house full of people at the moment."

Remus nodded his head feverishly in relief. "Oh, yes, sir. That is completely understandable. James, Sirius, and I have already made plans to go to the Shrieking Shack; and we will return after I recover."

"Nonsense," my mother spoke up. "You will come back here to recover. I'm sure you will heal much quicker around people who love you and in a clean and comfortable environment."

"Oh, thank you, but I could never ask you to—," Remus began.

"You don't have to ask, I am offering; and I will not take no for an answer," my mom said cutting him off.

"Thank you so much Mrs. Parker, I can't thank you enough. You too, Mr. Parker, thank you for being so understanding," Remus said gratefully, beaming at me.

"Son," my dad said, clapping Remus on the back, "Lyla trusts you, therefore I trust you. I also admire your courage for telling us all this; most people would have been too scared to share a secret such as yours. You are very brave indeed." My dad gave me a smile and then added, "Now, why don't you two go on and get too bed, it's getting rather late." Remus and I nodded our heads and got up from our chairs. I hugged and kissed my parents goodnight and then Remus and I exited the kitchen, leaving my parents to their tea, which they would be needing right about now.

When the door to the kitchen closed behind us Remus wrapped his arms around me and I sunk into his chest with relief and joy. "Everything is going to be alright," Remus whispered into my hair.

"Now you're starting to get it," I told him squeezing his body closer. His body vibrated as he laughed. Back in my room Alexa, Blair, Sirius, and James were waiting lazily for our return. Alexa and Blair were sprawled out on Alexa's bed and Sirius and James were fawning over Little Sirius as he played on the floor.

"Oh, hey," Alexa said rolling over on her side to face me and Remus. "I see that they didn't throw Remus out of the house, that's clearly a good sign," she said sarcastically with a grin on her face.

"So, how did it go really?" Blair asked rolling her eyes at my sister.

"It went great. They are completely fine with it," I told them as I took a seat on my bed and grabbed one of the pillows.

"What? Really?" Alexa asked sounding very surprised.

"Yes, really," I said a little defensive. "What's with you, you sound like you're disappointed that they didn't freak out."

"No, it's not that," Alexa quickly said trying to make amends for her tone from before. "Don't get me wrong, I'm absolutely thrilled that everything worked out, but I at least expected them to freak out a little at first. I mean, they went ballistic when they found out I got my nose pierced, but when they find out their daughter is in love with a werewolf, no offense Reems, they are as cool as cucumbers," Alexa rattled off.

"Well, clearly Lyla is the favorite; but don't worry Alex, my parents hate me too," Sirius joked.

"Sirius, what did I tell you?" Alexa asked sternly.

"To shut up a little," Sirius said petting Little Sirius.

"That's right," she said nodding her head.

_Two Days Later_

"When do you guys have to leave?" Blair asked as we all sat at the table in the basement eating the breakfast that my mother had prepared for us.

As James helped himself to yet another helping of eggs Remus responded, "Well, we should probably leave around eleven. I don't want to be risky; I want to leave with plenty of time." I looked at the large clock on the wall that read 9:30. You think I'd be used to having Remus leave for the full moon by now, but to be honest, every time I got more and more scared, knowing that one of these times he was going to get seriously hurt or something bad was going to happen.

Each time I would tell myself that he would be fine and that he would come back unscathed; but for some reason I could never shake the feeling of terror. However, I had a feeling that this time would be different, maybe even easier. This time, I had the support of my friends to help me; I also was going to be allowed to take some part in the whole process. I knew seeing Remus after his transformation was going to be hard but I was just so grateful to have the chance to help him through a difficult time.

By the time we finished eating and cleaning up, time had slipped away from us. It was nearing eleven and I could feel the ball of tension building in my stomach. Most of the family had gone out for the day to Diagon Alley so we virtually had the whole house to ourselves. It was time for the boys to leave and we all gathered in the entrance hall to say our goodbyes.

"Do you really have to go?" Alexa asked Sirius. Sirius pulled Alexa in to a hug.

"Yes, I unfortunately have to go. Don't miss me too much," Sirius said with a grin on his face.

Alexa, being stubborn, replied, "And who said I was going to miss you?"

"Oh, come on, who are we kidding. You and I both know you can't live without me," Sirius foolishly spoke. Why neither of them ever chose their words carefully, I will never know.

Alexa let out a little gasp. "Okay, no, you know what, I don't even care that you're leaving. I want you to leave and never come back, ever."

"Now, you know you don't mean that," he said pulling her closer and placing a gentle kiss on her lips. "You know that you love me."

Alexa smiled and blushed. "Yeah, yeah. Fine, I admit it, I guess I'll miss you a little," she said swatting away his kisses. "Oh, hey, can you do me a favor?" she asked him.

"Anything for you sweetheart," Sirius told her.

"If you have to be away from me, when you come back, will you at least come back with some scars?" she asked with a smile.

Sirius looked around at us a little confused. "Are you asking me, your boyfriend, to get hurt just so I can get some scars?"

"Well, yeah; I think scars are really sexy," she said in a low voice with a glint in her eyes.

"Oh, you do? Well, I will see what I can do," he told Alexa, kissing the top of her forehead. "I will miss you so much," he whispered into her hair. "I'll miss you too," she replied.

I turned to Remus who was watching me with adoring eyes. "So here we are again," he said with a hint of a smile. "Is it getting any easier?" he asked rubbing my arms.

"Not so much," I told him honestly.

He laughed and pulled me closer to him resting his head on top of mine. "I don't want you to worry, I'll be fine," he reassured me. "I will be back before you know it. I'll miss you and I love you." He gave me a kiss and then he released me from his hold. I looked over at Sirius and Alexa who were cooing at Little Sirius and then over to James and Blair who were exchanging words that I could not hear. Blair and James hugged and then turned to the rest of the group.

"So, are we ready to go?" James asked. Remus nodded his head and so did Sirius. We all exchanged hugs with each other, said one last goodbye, and then the three boys exited into the cold. Me, Alexa and Blair waved as the boys disappeared into the grey mist and falling snow.

"Well, ladies, we are in for a long, long night," I told them.

"Hmm… I wonder if we have any ice cream," Alexa said looking off into the distance. Blair and I stared at Alexa, trying to follow her train of thought. "What? I like to eat away my sorrows," she told us. I started laughing at my sister and basked in the laughter because I knew that it would only last for a little while until the fear came pouring back in.

Luckily we were able to find two cartons of ice cream; one of rocky road and one of chocolate chip cookie dough. We stored the two containers of ice cream far back in the depths of the freezer for later and then went to waste away the hours up in mine and Alexa's room. We passed the time in various ways. From playing cards to performing and inventing spells; we pretty much did anything to keep our minds off of the three boys.

The rest of the family returned from their trip to Diagon Alley around nine o'clock and their return was followed by several questions about the whereabouts of the three boys whom our family was so smitten with. Do you know how hard it is to try and hide the fact that three people, who your family coincidentally love, are missing? It's pretty freaking hard, let me tell you.

After evading the thousands of questions about James, Remus, and Sirius, Blair, Alexa and I fished out the ice cream, grabbed three spoons and headed cryptically back up to our room. "So, do you feel like this every time this happens?" Alexa asked. "Because I feel like shit; it's like having two periods, it's a bit ridiculous," she said plopping down on her bed and diving into the rocky road ice cream she had in her grasp. After she took her first huge bite she said, "Mmm… that's so freaking good. Lyls, I don't know how you do this every month. The night's barely begun and I'm just so exhausted from all the worrying."

"Well, I'd like to tell you it gets easier, but it never does," I told her honestly, spooning a dollop of ice cream in my mouth and letting it melt.

"Hmm, well, at least you're honest, pessimistic, but honest," she said accepting what I said as truth.

"When do you think they'll get back?" Blair asked as she stroked Little Sirius who had fallen asleep in his little bed in between mine and Alexa's beds.

"It really just depends. Early morning maybe, or possibly later on in the afternoon," I told them.

"That seems so far away, almost like an eternity," Blair said with sadness in her voice. "I just hope they'll all be okay."

"We all do, Blair," Alexa said, "We all do." After polishing off the two cartons of ice cream, despite the large intake of sugar, we were all so tired and spent from all the emotional turmoil that we could barely keep our eyes open. As much as I tried to fight it, sleep grabbed me and then pulled me into its depths. "Lyla, are you still awake?" Alexa asked groggily. I could clearly tell that she was fighting the same battle that I was.

"Yeah, I'm just going to lie here and close my eyes," I said back, knowing full well that as soon as my eyelids closed, I was going to fall asleep.

"Lyls. Lyls!" I heard someone whisper shout in my dreams. "Get up, they're back!" My eyes immediately flew open and I saw Blair standing above me her face aglow.

"Where are they? How do you know they're back?" I asked, rubbing the sleep from my eyes and becoming alert.

"I saw them from the window," Blair explained pointing to the window with the window seat by my bed. "Come on," she said hastily, "They are probably coming up your walk by now. We need to get downstairs and get them up here without waking your family up." I nodded my head in agreement and rolled out of my bed. When I got to my feet, I saw Alexa already waiting by the door quietly.

We silently slipped out of our attic room and tip toed down the stairs to the front door. When we opened the front door, there before us were James, Sirius and Remus struggling up the walkway. James and Sirius were on either side of Remus supporting him, both looked to be pretty beat up, but neither of them looked nearly as bad as Remus. As I watched Remus approach I began to notice just how severe his injuries were. Remus was dragging his legs barely walking, his head was hanging down, and I could see numerous cuts on the exposed parts of his body.

"Remus," I whispered worriedly as I hurried forward leaving Blair and Alexa standing in the doorway. I stopped in front of the three boys and searched Sirius and James's faces for answers. "How is he?" I asked them, hoping for the best.

Sirius looked from James to me. I could already tell by the look on his face that it wasn't good. "He's not good, he got hurt pretty bad this time," Sirius told me. Sirius shifted a bit to better support Remus.

"Come on," I quickly said seeing that all three of them were in pain. "Let's get you guys inside and cleaned up." Sirius and James nodded their heads as I motioned them forward into the house. I followed behind the three struggling boys and quietly closed the door behind them once they were in the house.

As soon as I closed the door Alexa and Blair began to fuss over Sirius and James. "Sirius, are you alright?" Alexa questioned worry flooding into her eyes.

"Alexa, I'm fine, we just need to get Remus upstairs and on a bed," Sirius responded moving for the stairs with James and Remus. Remus let out a groan as they went up the first step. "Come on, Remus, we just need to get you up a few more stairs and then we'll get you better."

Alexa, Blair and I slowly followed James, Remus, and Sirius up the stairs as they limped the climb to our room in the attic. Once we got to our room James and Sirius led Remus over to my bed and gently laid him down. As I moved closer I saw just how severe a state Remus was. He had cuts covering his body and blood was soaking through his clothes. His eyes were glazed over and half closed, it was amazing that he was even conscious. Sirius and James went over and sat on Alexa's bed with her and Blair as I quickly rushed to the bathroom to grab the bandages and medical supplies that I had set out hours before in preparation.

I rushed over to Remus and sat on the side of the bed and carefully unbuttoned his shirt to better see his wounds. There were so many cuts that I didn't even really know where to start. I grabbed a wash cloth dipped it into the bowl of water on my bedside table and began to clean the wounds. Meanwhile Alexa was freaking out over Sirius and Blair was inspecting James. "Are you okay?" Alexa asked brushing a stray ebony lock off of Sirius's battered face.

"Alexa, I am fine, just a few scratches," he assured her taking her hand in his and kissing it gently.

Alexa smiled, pulled her hand back and said, "Oh, good." Then she hit him in his arm.

Sirius shrunk back with shock and rubbed his newest injury. "Alexa, what the bloody hell was that for?"

"What the hell were you thinking?" she asked. "I was just kidding about the whole scar thing; and now look at you," she said touching one of his cuts. "You should have been more careful."

"Merlin, Alex, it's not like I tried to get bloodied up. Besides, I thought you said scars were sexy," Sirius said trying to make sense of all this.

"Yeah, one or two scars! Not this many," she said signaling to the many cuts on Sirius. Sirius looked at his own body with a sense of disappointment. Alexa quickly realizing the effects of what she said jumped in again, "Oh, Sirius, I'm sorry." Alexa scooted closer to Sirius, took one of his hands and intertwined their fingers. "I was just so scared and it makes me nervous to see you like this."

Sirius smiled, "I do have that affect on people." He leaned in and placed a kiss on her forehead. I finally got the bleeding from Remus's wounds to slow down enough to wrap them in dressing and by this time Remus had closed his eyes. I grabbed the gauze and the medical tape from the floor and started to bandage Remus. "So, Alexa, would you mind fixing me up a bit?" Sirius asked sarcastically.

"I mean, if I have to," Alexa said as if she was being imposed upon. "Hey, Lyls, do you have another towel I can use?" I shook my head no. "Alright, come on we'll just go into the bathroom. Come along Sirius." Alexa got up from her bed and led Sirius to our bathroom.

After Sirius and Alexa disappeared into the bathroom I looked over at James who seemed to be doing the best out of the three. His wounds were relatively mild and Blair was already bandaging the few that had been bleeding a bit. I turned back to Remus and brushed the hair from his face as he laid there lifelessly before me. If I hadn't been able to hear the faint whistle of his breathing, I would have questioned if he was still alive. "Lyla?" I heard in the form of a groggy whisper. Remus's eyes were open a bit now and his eyes were searching. "Lyla, is that you?"

I abandoned the cut that I was cleaning and leaned forward closer to Remus. "I'm right here Remus," I said, an emotional hitch catching my voice in my throat. Remus looked into my eyes and smiled and I nearly broke down. "How are you?" I asked taking his hand in mine.

"I'm better now," he responded weakly giving my hand a squeeze. "How are you?" he asked me. I laughed a little at this question.

"I'm just glad you're back," I told him. "I've got most of your wounds dressed and most of your bleeding has slowed. I will have to change your dressings periodically, but other than that all you have to do is rest."

He looked around on my bed and saw were some of his blood had gotten on my blanket. "I'm sorry about all this," he said looking ashamed.

"Remus, stop that. I love you and I would do anything for you," I stopped his apology.

Remus smiled. "Thank you. I love you," he said and then leaned upward to kiss me.

"Do you need anything?" I asked hoping to make him as comfortable as possible.

"Could you get me a glass of water?" he asked. I nodded my head and got up from my bed to get some water from the bathroom.

In the bathroom, Sirius was sitting on the counter next to the sink as Alexa cleaned a scratch above his left eyebrow. "Ow!" Sirius shouted. Alexa pulled her hand away for a moment and then went back to cleaning the cut. "OW!" Sirius said again. "Damn it, Alexa, are you trying to kill me?"

Alexa angrily yanked her hand away. "Oh, stop being such a baby. Can you please man up a little and let me clean this cut, or it will get infected and you will die!" Alexa scolded Sirius as if he were a child.

With a huff Sirius replied, "Fine, but please be gentle, I'm fragile."

Alexa rolled her eyes and then looked at me as I approached my sink to get some water. "Hey, Lyls, how's Remus?" she asked.

"I guess he's doing well considering what he's been through," I told her with sadness in my voice. "He woke up a few minutes ago, so that's a good sign."

"That's great," she said genuinely. "Well, Sirius and I will be back out there in a bit; it all really depends on how long Sirius wants to be a baby." She gave Sirius a look and then went back to attending to the cut above his eye. I grabbed the glass next to my sink, turned on the cold water, and filled up the glass. As I approached the door that led back into our room I heard voices and neither of them were Remus's. I stopped and listened. "What are you doing?" Alexa asked moving over to where I was.

"Shh…," I said as I waved her over. "I'm listening to Blair and James." I opened the door a little to where I could see them better, "Come and look at this, it's almost as if they were dating again." Alexa hurried over and Sirius jumped off the counter and did the same.

James and Blair were both sitting on Alexa's bed, sitting rather closely I might add, and Blair was wrapping up a cut on James's arm. "I miss times like these," James said tracking Blair's every move.

"How do you mean?" Blair questioned still giving her full attention to the wound.

"Just hanging out, you and me; I miss this," he said almost in a whisper but still loud enough for us to hear.

Blair looked up from her work. "I miss this too," she said locking eyes with James. After a few moments of deep staring Blair said, "All done." She secured the bandage in place and then laid her hands in her lap.

"Thank you, Bear," James said bringing out the old nickname.

"You're welcome," Blair responded, enjoying the familiarity of the name. Again they just sat there looking at each other.

"What the hell is happening?" Alexa asked trying to make sense of all this.

"Well, to me, it looks like they are about to kiss," Sirius said nodded his head back in their direction. Alexa and I quickly turned our focus back on James and Blair and saw that they indeed looked like they were getting ready to kiss.

"Do something," Alexa said to me as she threw open the door and pushed me out into the room.

"Alexa!" I protested. Blair and James jumped back from each other and looked straight at me. I gave them a guilty smile and said, "Oh, hey, um, Blair, do you have any more… um… gauze? Alexa needs it." I needed to work on performing under pressure.

Blair, clearly frazzled, grabbed the gauze and held it up. "Yeah, here's some, you can take it." I walked over to where Blair and James were sitting and took the gauze from her hand. I looked at James who avoided my gaze and then back to Blair who just weakly smiled.

"Thanks," I said, turning around and going back into the bathroom. Back in the bathroom, Alexa just stood there smiling sheepishly at me. "I hate you," I told her with a scowl. I handed her the gauze, got the glass of water I had filled up for Remus, and headed back into the room, not daring to look over at James and Blair.

I sat down beside Remus and shook him gently. "Here's your water, Remus," I said quietly. Remus's eyes opened and he gratefully took the glass and drank all of its contents. He gave my hand a gentle squeeze of thanks and then looked past me at Alexa and Sirius as they entered the room.

A smile spread across Sirius's face and he made his way over to my bed. I slowly got up from my spot to make room for Sirius and James who had come over to see their friend. Alexa and I both went to sit next to Blair as the three boys talked. "Hey, Moony, how're you feeling mate?" Sirius asked.

"I'm doing much better than I was," he said. "How are you two? You didn't get bloodied up too bad did you?" he asked fear in his eyes.

James and Sirius both smiled and exchanged looks. "Us? Never." James said cockily. "Just a few scratches, nothing major; we're just glad you're okay, it was pretty rough this time."

"Yeah, it was worse than usual. That's why I hate you guys coming with me, it's all just so unpredictable; you could have been seriously hurt," Remus said clearly beating himself up.

"Moony, you are our best mate, there is nothing we wouldn't do for you. Well, I take that back, there are some things I would do for you, but typically speaking I would do most things," Sirius said, bringing smiles to our faces as he rambled. "Prongs and I like doing this for you, it's one of the only times we can help _you_ with something, because we all know that you never need help with anything else you little genius." Remus laughed a bit. "Now, seeing as it is very late, or early, depending on how you look at it, I think we could all do with a bit of rest," Sirius said acting responsible.

"I think Sirius is right, we all need some sleep," Alexa added. "Lyla, where are all those cushions and pillows that mum gave us?"

"Oh, I'll get them." I flicked my wand at the closet door near the bathroom and immediately several cushions, blankets and pillows filed out of the closet and arranged themselves on the floor.

"So, will you and I be bunking together then?" Sirius asked eyeing Alexa and grinning.

"You wish," she said throwing a pillow at him. "You will be sleeping on the floor." Alexa fell onto her own bed spreading out as Sirius just stood there in awe.

"Really? Oh, come on Alexa, Lyla is letting Moony sleep in her bed. I promise I won't hog all the covers," he pleaded.

"Well, Lyla was born with a soul," she said simply. "Plus, Lyla will not be sleeping in the bed with Remus. Besides, you've gone this long without sleeping with me, I think you can wait a bit longer," she jeered with a sheepish grin. James burst with laughter muffling it with a pillow on his make shift bed.

Sirius, his eyes filled with shock, tried to laugh off the low blow my sister just served him. He quickly looked from James to Remus and said, "She's only joking." Everyone just rolled their eyes as we all settled into our beds. With another flick of my wand the lights clicked off and the room was dark but with the promise of morning on the horizon. I closed my eyes and took in the silence as I tried to fall asleep. However, the silence was interrupted. "Isn't this just great. Best friends hanging out and doing what best friends do, if only Wormy was here, it would be a perfect best friend moment," Sirius said. Everyone just agreed with silence. "We've had ups and downs, and for most groups of friends they probably would have fallen by the wayside, but not us. We push through and come out on top. We—,"

"Sirius," Alexa said cutting Sirius off.

"Right, shut up a little," he said. After that the silence was only broken by the soft breathing of the people around me and the occasional rustling of sheets and blankets as someone moved.

* * *

It had been almost a week since the night of the full moon and things were back to normal. The family naturally had some rising suspicions after they saw the three boys all scratched up, but Sirius made up some epic heroic, over the top in my opinion, story about rescuing some little old witch from being mugged. And by some miracle my family actually believed it, or at least they acted like they did. Personally, I didn't care if they actually believed it or not, either way they didn't ask questions and that was a good thing.

The boys were practically as good as new and we were just enjoying the time we had left in our holiday. I had envisioned the rest of my holiday just lounging around the house, enjoying the company of my friends and family, and maybe getting some reading done. Sirius and James, of course, had alternate plans, and were trying to not only rope me, Alexa and Blair into them but also my whole family.

One late morning as Blair, Alexa, Remus and I lounged downstairs in the basement, our relaxing was interrupted by James and Sirius running down the stairs. "Did you see how much it snowed last night?" Sirius asked excitedly. "There's just so much of it and it's just all too perfect," he said very suspiciously.

"Sirius, what on earth are you talking about?" Alexa asked as she filed her nails.

"Well dear," he said as he squeezed in between me and Alexa on the couch that we were sitting on, "Jamsie here has had a simply _brilliant_ idea. Clearly, still harboring hard feelings about the snowball fight that we had at school, which he lost, and we won," he said signaling to himself and me, "James was inspired by the recent snow fall. He would like a rematch, but we decided to take it to a whole new level."

"You really could have just said you wanted to have a snowball fight," I told him.

"Oh, but best friend Lyla, this is no mere snowball fight, tis a snowball _extravaganza_," Sirius said looking off into space mystically as he said 'extravaganza'.

"And how exactly are we taking this to a whole new level?" Alexa asked.

"Well, Alexa, I'm glad you asked, because that's where it gets interesting. We are going to get your family to be on the teams and we are just going to have a huge fight. Awesome, right?" he asked.

Alexa and I looked at each other with concern. "With any other family, yes, this would be a good idea, but absolutely not when it comes to the Parkers," Alexa explained.

"Yeah, our family is one of the most competitive families you will ever meet. If you thought that Alexa and I were competitive, you haven't seen anything yet; we're mild compared to others in our family. Last year, my dad broke my Uncle Scott's hand playing wizard chess," I told them. "I'm all for a rematch, but under no circumstances will we ask any member of our family to participate."

James and Sirius exchanged a look and then Sirius said, "Where does it leave us if we already asked your family and they said yes?" Sirius preemptively put his hands up to block a hit from Alexa.

"Sirius, you are such an idiot," she said. She let out a sigh, "Well, there's no backing out now, we have to play. They've probably thought up six different strategies by now. We need to decide on the teams and on when we are going to play."

"Already done," James said bringing out a piece of parchment from his back pocket. "I've got the teams written out and we are playing in a few short hours."

"A few short hours?" Alexa asked alarmingly. "Are you crazy?"

"Alexa's exactly right. We need to stop all this foolish chatting and we need to get ready!" Sirius said standing up excitedly. "Quick, everyone, get dressed and reconvene outside in the back yard. Be swift!" And with that he rushed off to his room and closed the door behind him.

Blair, Alexa and I reluctantly got up from the couch we were sitting on and we filed up to our room to get ready for the extravaganza that I knew was going to end badly. We through on our warmest clothes, put on our snow boots and headed down the stairs. When we opened the two sun doors that led to the patio and our back yard we saw nearly our whole family congregated around in giant jackets and hats.

"Thank you for joining us girls," my father said in an almost scolding tone.

"Dad, it's not like we're late or—," Alexa started to say.

"Alex, no excuses, just get over here and listen up," he said cutting her off. We quickly hurried over to where James, Sirius, and Remus were standing and stood there quietly awaiting our next instructions. "James, my boy, you may begin."

"Thank you, Gary. As you all know, we have gathered together for the snowball fight of all snowball fights. I will now read the teams. On team one will be Lyla, Remus, Eleanor, and Tristan." Eleanor looked excitedly over at Remus. The four of us separated from the larger group and Tristan threw his arm around me as Eleanor sided up next to Remus. "Team two will consist of Blair, Matthew, Xavier," Blair looked over at James questioningly as Matt and Xavier exchanged high fives, "and myself," James finished. A look of relief came over Blair. Matt and Xavier moved to either side of Blair and stared up at her longingly as Blair just smiled uncomfortably down at them.

"On the third team will be Sirius, Alexa, Lidia, and Claire." Lidia gave Alexa a devious look and rushed over to Sirius and linked arms with him. Sirius laughed a bit as Alexa let out a huff at Lidia. "And on the fourth and final team will be all the adults." What?! I looked over to Alexa who had the same worried look on her face. This was not going to be good. "Now, we will break off for a few minutes to strategize and then I will formally begin the battle. Teams, disperse."

The four teams quickly went to four corners in the back yard and began the strategy session. As my team came together, it looked like we would have a chance at winning. Tristan was definitely one of the more competitive members of my family, Remus was a very strategic player, Eleanor was smart, and, not to brag but, I was on the winning team the last time we had a snowball fight. "I don't think I really need to say this, but, win at all costs," Tristan said simply. "I don't tolerate losers. Does anybody have any suggestions for strategy?"

Remus spoke up, as this was his area of expertise, "I think we should work in pairs. That way, as one attacks, the other can protect themselves and their teammate."

"That's beautiful Remus, simply marvelous," Tristan said clapping Remus on the back. "I will go with Eleanor since I'm the oldest and you two will work together," he said pointing to me and Remus. Tristan, I thought, was almost as bad as Sirius when it came to winning. I gave Remus a smile. James called us back to the larger group to get the next set of instructions. "Okay team, out on the field there are no such things as friends or family, they are all enemies and they shall be exterminated. Let's do this!"

All four teams reassembled into a larger group and James proceeded, "Alright, now that we have had some time to get our effects in order, it is time to begin. To keep this simple, the only rule is if you get hit, you're out," he looked around the circle as everyone nodded their head in agreement. "Okay, teams, spread out and I will yell go and then you may begin." The teams yet again dispersed, the air intensifying as we prepared ourselves for battle. As we waited for James to give us the go ahead, I looked around at all the teams. Alexa waved at me as she met my gaze, but Sirius quickly scolded her for fraternizing with the enemy. Matt and Xavier were jogging in place pumping themselves up and the parents were just standing around as if this were going to be no challenge to them. The back yard quieted as James opened his mouth, "Ready… set… GO!!!"

Everyone quickly hit the ground and furiously began to make snowballs. Tristan shot up off the ground with several snowballs in tow and turned to me and Remus. "Eleanor and I are going in, you two get out there as soon as you can. We need to execute quickly and effectively. Let's go Elle." Tristan started into the yard cautiously, Eleanor following closely behind, her own arms filled with snowballs.

Remus and I scooped up the snowballs we had made and tried to decide the best course of action. "Who should we take out first?" I asked.

"Maybe the younger kids first," he suggested.

"Preying on the weak… I like where your head's at," I told him with a hint of sarcasm.

"James and Sirius were bound to rub off a bit on me," he said shrugging his shoulders. "I say we get Lidia first. She should be rather easy to get, plus it will significantly weaken Sirius's team." I nodded my head in agreement, and we ventured stealthily off toward Sirius and Alexa's camp where Lidia was diligently making snowballs. We slowly creeped around a tree near where Lidia was kneeling and quietly approached her. As Remus moved to attack and I covered his back, a shout came from nearby.

"Lidia, watch out!" It was Sirius, who was several yards away. Lidia turned toward us in panic and tried to get up to run away, but it was much too late. Remus launched a snowball and it hit Lidia with ease. Lidia sat there shocked and defeated. "Oh, you would Remus!" Sirius yelled from where he was standing. "No matter, we still have three other people," Sirius said confidently.

"Correction, we just have two now," Alexa said coming to help Sirius. "Claire was too cold so she went inside with Eleanor after she got out."

"What?!" Sirius protested angrily. "We can't afford to be losing people like this!"

"Sirius, she's five, you ass!" Alexa scolded.

After watching Sirius and Alexa's team diminish, we returned to where Tristan was making more snowballs, looking up frequently to ensure that he was not under attack. "Hey team, as you've noticed, Eleanor is no longer with us; there was just nothing I could do. But on the plus side I was able to get Aunt Zoë and Uncle Jim out, Sirius got Matt out, and James got your mother."

"We got Lidia out and Cee quit," I informed him.

"Perfect," Tristan said vindictively. His eyes suddenly widened and shouted abruptly, "Duck!" Remus and I immediately fell to the ground, smashing some of the snowballs we had made. As I lay on the ground, I turned to see who had attacked us; it was Uncle Scott and my own father.

"Sorry, darling," my father said as he began to retreat. "It's nothing personal!"

"That was way too close," Tristan said almost a bit angrily. "You two need to be more careful. I'm going back in; please try not to get hit."

As time elapsed, the game got more intense and it was almost impossible to move. The parents had apparently stepped up their game and were throwing snowballs at anything that moved and they were getting really close to hitting us. And when Tristan said win at all costs, he apparently meant it, because he obviously thought Remus and I weren't going to help him win so he switched to James, Blair, and Xavier's team. I quickly found that out as Tristan ran toward me, snowball held high. If I hadn't tripped on that branch as I ran away, I surely would have been hit.

Since Remus and I had been abandoned, we decided that if we were to have any prayer of staying in this, we needed more people. We decided to form a truce and make an alliance between our team and Sirius and Alexa's team. As a newly formed team, we decided to try a new strategy: hiding like cowards. We quickly made camp behind one of the big evergreens near the house and waited for the others to take care of each other.

"We just need to be patient," Sirius instructed. "Eventually they will eliminate each other, and then we will just appear out of nowhere and take them by force"

"Do you think this is actually going to work?" Alexa asked skeptically.

Sirius thought for a moment. "Nope, it's just the first thing that popped into my head," he said honestly. He got up from the cold ground and moved toward the side of the tree. "I'm just going to peek out and see how things are going; I'll be back."

As Sirius disappeared behind the tree Alexa said, "So, how shameful is it that we've been reduced to hiding at our own house?"

"Pretty shameful," I told her, truly feeling shameful.

"James! No!" we heard Sirius yell from the other side of the tree. Remus, Alexa, and I quickly got up and moved to where Sirius was. Sirius was on the ground and James was standing over him, snowball in hand. James had a wild look in his eyes and Sirius looked fearful. "James, remember, this is just a game; you don't want to do this," Sirius tried to reason with James.

James just stood there for a minute and then said, "Wrong, Sirius, this is life!" And with that, James launched the snowball and hit Sirius right in the face. James quickly looked to us next. All three of us quickly threw our hands up in surrender, seeing as we were unarmed. James nodded and then turned back to his team who were battling it out with the parents across the yard. "I got their whole team!" he yelled triumphantly.

Alexa slowly sat down next to Sirius who was frozen on the spot. "Sirius, are you okay?" she asked placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm going to need you to hold me for a few minutes," Sirius said quietly, looking straight ahead.

Alexa nodded her head knowingly and motioned for Sirius to move into her arms. "Come here," she said soothingly, "It's going to be alright." Sirius leaned into Alexa and listened to her reassuring words.

Remus and I turned our attention to where the remaining adults were battling it out with James, Blair, Xavier and Tristan. There were snowballs being thrown left and right and there were many close calls mainly on James and Blair's team. It seemed that no matter how hard they tried, they just couldn't match the intensity put out by the adults. Soon after James had rejoined his team, Xavier was struck down by Aunt Linda, who was in turn eliminated by Tristan, who then was hit by Uncle Scott. The chain effect was in place, but somehow Blair and James missed the huge figurative domino falling toward them.

James passionately launched a snowball at Uncle Scott, but being the swift person that he is, he dodged it as my father threw a snowball at James who dodged it as well. After a few more close hits, James and Blair quickly realized that there was no chance in hell of them winning, so they respectfully surrendered. "We win!" the parents collectively celebrated as Blair and James walked away back toward the warm house, waving their figurative white flag.

As Blair and James approached us, I also saw Alexa, leading a befuddled Sirirus, over to where we were. "A fight well fought," Remus said extending a hand of congratulations to James.

"Thank you very much," James said taking Remus's extended hand. "We did the best we could; but they were just way too into it."

"I hate to say this, but I told you so," I said honestly to James.

James smiled, "I know, I know. I definitely underestimated your warning; but you were right, your family is the most competitive family that I have ever met."

"You have no idea," Alexa said as she and Sirius joined the group. Sirius and James looked at each other and you could definitely feel the tension.

No one spoke, there was just utter silence. "Hey Sirius," James said breaking the silence.

Sirius looked up from the ground with his eyes narrowed with bitterness and replied, "James."

"Oh, come on, mate," James pleaded. "You know I didn't mean anything by it."

Sirius's eyes widened with anger. "Well, it sure seemed like you meant _something_ by it!" he said very angrily. "You were a vicious killer shark and I was a nearby swimmer just trying to enjoy the ocean. You were a hungry lion and I was a sweet innocent antelope just trying to make my way through life. You were a fierce grizzly bear and I was a beautiful salmon just wanting to make my way up stream," Sirius rattled off. "How does it feel to have been viciously killed your best mate?"

James shook his head at his friend. "Padfoot, I am sincerely sorry. I didn't mean it I swear, I just go caught up in the game," James tried to apologize.

"Oh, well, according to you it was not merely a game, it was 'life'," Sirius said mockingly using air quotes. James let out a defeated huff and he hung his head.

"Sirius...," Alexa said putting her hand on Sirius's shoulder. "He is your best mate, you know what you have to do."

Sirius paused and weighed his options. We all waited anxiously to see what would happen. After a few more moments of awkward silence, Sirius took a step toward James and stopped. James looked up at Sirius and their gazes met. They gave each other a smile and then met with a brotherly embrace. "I'm sorry Padfoot," James said.

"Mate, it goes without saying," Sirius replied as the two boys released each other. "I know you didn't really mean it. I know how it is to get wrapped up in the heat of the moment. I admit that I may get super competitive at times and I'm sure that I've behaved in a similar fashion, so I forgive you."

"Well, I'm glad that you two made up," Remus said sarcastically.

"James, I think somebody needs a best friend hug," Sirius said opening his arms up to Remus, James doing the same. "Come, now, Remus. Give us a hug," he said motioning for Remus to come to them. Remus just shook his head refusing to comply. "If you don't come to us, we will just come to you."

"Sirius, no," Remus said sternly. Sirius and James started walking toward Remus. "No. Both of you stop right now." Remus started backing up now trying to evade the best friend hug he had coming toward him. As Sirius and James got close Remus began to move away at a faster pace. Sirius and James started chasing Remus and finally they captured him in a hug, sandwiched right between Sirius and James. "See, Remus, isn't this nice?" Sirius asked. "I could just stay here forever."

"Please don't," Remus pleaded.

_A week later. King's Cross._

We spent the last week of our holiday just enjoying being around my family and relaxing before we got back to the tedious work of school. We took our luggage to the luggage compartment and then met my parents back on the platform. "Well, girls, as always it was nice having you home," my dad said as he gave me and Alexa a hug and a kiss. "And it was wonderful having all of you for the holidays; we hope that you will come back again next year."

"Sir, it was a pleasure seeing you again," James said.

My dad slung his arm around James's shoulder. "Oh, James, my boy, the pleasure was all mine, I assure you. If you ever need anything, you just let me know," my father counseled James.

"Will do sir," James said.

"And I want you to make sure my two little girls stay safe."

"Don't you worry. I will make sure they don't get into too much trouble," James assured my dad.

"I never worry, not when it comes to you, son," my dad said patting James on the back. He then turned to Remus and Sirius. "Boys, it was nice meeting you. Be good to my girls, and if you aren't I can assure you that I will know," my father told them winking at James.

"Okay, dad, we've got to go," Alexa said rescuing the boys.

We hugged my dad again and then gave my mom a hug goodbye. After several repetitive goodbyes, my parents finally left, leaving us on platform 9 ¾ waiting till the last minute to get onto the train. "Sirius," I heard a cruel voice that made my hair stand on end say. When we turned around, we saw Sirius's mother standing before us haughtily.

"Mother, what are you doing here?" Sirius asked coldly.

"Your father and I came to send your brother off," she said equally as cold.

"No, I mean what are you doing here, talking to us?" he asked.

"Can a mother not talk to her own son?" she questioned.

"I didn't realize you were still claiming me as your son." Sirius's mother's nose twitched with annoyance. "Where is father? He didn't want to say hello?"

Walburga tugged at her snake skin gloves. "He is with your brother. He would have come to say hello but he is getting your brother settled."

"Oh, please, mother. No need to lie for him. I know he doesn't want to see me and I really don't give a damn," Sirius spat at his mother.

"Sirius," Alexa said trying to calm Sirius down.

"Hold your tongue you little half-blood, these matters don't concern you. And you Sirius, you be grateful that your father and I haven't cut you off!" she said raising her voice a bit. "Your father doesn't want it to be like this. He just wants you to be friends with the right people."

"Listen lady," Alexa said, looking angry. "Sirius _is_ friends with the right people. And he should not be made out to be less of a person just because he can see past the pure-blood crap that you can't seem to get past."

Mrs. Black slightly smiled, or at least I thought it was a smile. "So, you're still around are you? I thought you would have been gone by now." She looked Alexa over and then wrinkled her nose. "Now, what was your name again dear? After a while it gets difficult to distinguish one piece of trash my son dates from the others."

Alexa's eyes narrowed and her body went rigid. "How dare you," she said roughly. "You have no right to talk to your son, or to me, that way!"

"Alexa, stop," Sirius said sternly. "I don't need you to defend me. I can fight my own battles."

"I'm just trying to help," Alexa said quietly.

"Well, stop," he responded angrily. Sirius's mother sneered at the squabble before her. Alexa just stared at Sirius tears threatening to burst forward. She quickly turned and started down the platform.

"Now, there's the son I know," Mrs. Black said sarcastically. I gave Sirius a disappointed look and then grabbed Blair to take off after Alexa. We finally caught up with her as she settled into a compartment on the train.

"Hey Alex," I said as I slowly came into the compartment and sat down beside my sister, who was staring out the window. "You okay, little sis?"

"He is such an ass," Alexa cursed as tear drops rolled down her face. "I wasn't trying to interfere with his whole family debacle; I was just trying to help. The things she said, she had no right to say those things."

"Alex, Blair and I both know that you had only the best intentions; but you have to understand that Sirius has a really complicated family life that we couldn't possibly understand," I tried to comfort.

"I know that his family deal is messed up, but he was an ass to me back there and he didn't even stand up for me when his mother said those things back there," she said almost as if she was arguing with her own reasoning. "He said nothing; _nothing_. He just let her berate and degrade me, and all of you. He didn't even defend his best mates."

As she began to cry harder I cradled her in my arms. "Alexa, it's going to be okay, I promise," Blair reassured Alexa as she too pulled Alexa into a hug. "I'm sure he'll come around. He just needs to cool off and get away from his mother."

Alexa sat there for a minute in our arms and then suddenly shrugged out of them and stood up forcefully. "No, _no_; we will not make excuses for him. He did what he did, know full well what he was doing, and he has to accept the consequences of his actions," she said wiping her tears off her face. "As of right now, I am officially mad at Sirius."

"Um, Alex, you might want to cut him a little break," Blair said.

"Absolutely not, Blair!" Alexa exclaimed. "He made his choices and now he must pay. Don't try to talk me out of it."

"Alright," Blair surrendered, knowing it was indeed a lost cause.

Suddenly, the compartment door flew open and Lily was standing there, her fire red hair flowing over her shoulders. "Hey guys, how are you?" Lily asked politely. On seeing Alexa and her red swollen eyes, Lily came in and sat next to Alexa, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Lily, Sirius is just a prat; nothing to worry about," Alexa said shrugging off Lily's concern. "So what's up?" she asked, sharing my curiosity as to why Lily was here in our compartment.

"Oh, well, I was just walking by and I thought I would just stop in. There's nothing in particular that I need; just saying hi," she said with a weak smile, clearly getting a little uncomfortable as she glanced over at Blair.

Silence filled the compartment, as did awkwardness. "Lily," Blair spoke up as she twisted her hands nervously. "Um, I know that we haven't always been on the best of terms, but, I just want to say I'm sorry. For everything."

Lily smiled a bit as she looked at Blair. "I'm so sorry too," she replied. "Do you think we could just put all of this behind us?"

Blair laughed a little and nodded her head. "I would like that, a lot. It would be really nice if we all could be friends," Blair said signaling to me and Alexa.

"I would like that too," Lily said, a huge beaming smile on her face. "Now that we're friends and all," Lily said jokingly, "Would you guys mind if I rode with you?"

"Sure," Alexa said. "Just out of curiosity, where's Bree and Andy Ablo?" she asked disgusted.

Lily looked down in shame. "Well, we sort of had a falling out before break and we haven't talked since then. It's really been a long time coming; we haven't been getting along for ages," Lily admitted. We all nodded our heads in understanding. A moment later, the compartment door opened yet again.

"Hello ladies, mind if we join you?" Standing in the doorway were four Slytherin boys, all with smug smiles on their faces.

"Actually, we do mind," Alexa said snottily.

"Oh, hey Blair," the tall boy in front said looking from Alexa to Blair.

"Finn," Blair said annoyed.

"We haven't seen you in quite some time, I take it you remember Sean, William, and Matteo," Finn said pointing to the three boys behind him.

Blair nodded her head. "Hey guys," she said unenthusiastically. The three boys waved to Blair as she acknowledged them. "Finn, what are you guys doing here?" Blair asked impatiently.

"Well, me and the guys were talking about you and your lovely friends here, so we thought we'd drop in and pay you a visit," Finn said almost a little seductively. "Look, I know it didn't work out between you and Adrian, but I thought maybe we could us a shot."

Blair's eyes widened, "Hell no, Finn. I don't quite understand where this is all coming from, but there will never be anything between us, ever. You guys can just feel free to leave now."

"What the hell is this?" somebody said from behind the wall of boys blocking the door to our compartment. The four boys parted and standing behind them and the source of the noise were Sirius, Remus and James. "What the hell is this?" Sirius repeated as he and the other two Marauders moved past the other four boys into our compartment.

"Sirius, what are you doing here?" Alexa asked angrily, folding her arms across her chest.

"Well, I'm here to see if my girlfriend is okay, but you seem to be doing just fine," Sirius said looking at the Slytherins behind him.

"Oh, please," Alexa said rolling her eyes.

"Look, we're leaving, this isn't worth it," Finn said looking very annoyed about the whole ordeal unfolding before him. The four boys turned and left.

"Alexa, what the hell were you doing?" Sirius asked.

"I wasn't doing anything. You should know what that looks like, you're pretty good at it," Alexa said delivering a low blow to Sirius.

"Alexa," Sirius said quietly looking down at his shoes.

"I can't do this right now," Alexa said, getting up abruptly and exiting the compartment. Blair and I quickly stood up and motioned for Lily to join us. Lily stood and opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by Sirius's rage.

"Just shut the hell up and get the fuck out!" Sirius exclaimed as he punched the compartment wall.

Lily shrunk back in fear as Blair led her out of the compartment to follow after Alexa. "You get him under control," I said sternly to Remus and James. "And tell him that I will deal with him later." James and Remus nodded their heads and I took off after Alexa, to pick up the pieces again.

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A:N: Hello friends! Are you not as happy as I am that Amulet Girl is back? I mean, it was torture to not see my best friend everyday and now that she's back it is amazing! She has also just cranked out the longest chapter for this story yet. Congratulations to her! Well, I am working on chapter 20 as we speak, but it might be a little while because who knew senior year would be so hardcore. But, it's going to be completed before September so don't worry about it. J Anyways, leave us some reviews or just drop us some love and some helpful hints.

Peach out!


	20. Wolf Packs and the Quidditch Nazi

Disclaimer: We own nothing but the lovely characters you do not recognize as J.K.'s. Which is funny if you think about it! (Get it, just kidding, Jk? I got a chuckle!)

Baby Blue's Note: So, here you all are! I'm so happy that I got this chapter out, finished my AP lab report, and my other papers, and still have time to relax for a little bit before it starts again tomorrow. Anyways, thanks to all the lovely people that read this story and to all of you who stick with us through our sporadic updates. They should be coming more regularly as soon as we figure out how to juggle our massive amounts of school work too!

Enjoy the chapter and if you have any questions just let us know. Oh, and to all of you who didn't know this, James Potter is a CHASER! Not a seeker. Okay, the movies lied. So, just getting that out of the way. If you need proof we'd be glad to extend it. Thanks for reading!

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Wolf Pack and Quidditch Captains

Alexa's Point of View

"Alexa, could I talk to you for a moment?" The question was barely heard over the din in the Great Hall, but the voice was one that I knew well. I looked up to see Sirius looming over the other side of the table. The anger and hurt that was resonating from before at the train station came rushing back up through the pit that had been gnawing at my stomach. Sirius looked less than happy to be talking to me, but Remus was standing behind him menacingly so he stayed put.

I pretended to think about it for a minute before I looked back down at my empty plate. Then, I took a deep breath and pushed all the anger down again while I looked up towards my sister. Lyla, knowing that a rage fest was getting ready to break forth, nodded to me sympathetically. "No, I don't think so, Sirius." I said while looking anywhere but his face.

With an annoyed sigh he sat down and commenced staring at everyone in the hall with a pissed off expression. Well, that was all fine and dandy that he could be mad at whomever he wanted to but were the rest of us supposed to fall at his will? Whatever. All I had been trying to do was stand up for myself. On the other side of me, Blair perked up as James took the seat next to her.

"Have a good train ride, Bear?" He asked her and she smiled dreamily, while the cynic in me gritted her teeth. Lyla put a soothing hand on my shoulder as Remus took the seat next to Sirius with Peter on his other side. Where had he come from? Sensing the tenseness of the subject, James took it upon himself to lighten the mood again. "Anyone interested in what happened to Bree during holidays? I sent out some scouts earlier to look for our dear friend."

At this my ears perked up and I couldn't help but look at James. "You have my attention, James," He smiled and I forgot to be mad for a minute as I turned towards him and leaned in next to Blair. "If this has anything to do with her having to be bald for Christmas I'm going to praise the ground you walk on. Heck, I'll even try out for the Quidditch team next year."

Remus laughed at me when I said this and I stuck my tongue out at him childishly. Then I ignored Sirius before turning back to James, whose hazel eyes had taken on that special twinkle. "I wish I could say that it was Bree that had to go bald, but it seems that she wasn't the one who actually ingested our little morsel of destruction."

"Who exactly was it then?" Lyla asked, showing an interest in the subject instead of her recent game of footsies with Remus under the desk. Yes, my dear sister, I know all of your secrets. When she saw my knowing look and then as I sealed the deal with a wink towards Remus, she blushed and then focused once more on James. "It wasn't anyone who could potentially trace this back to us, right? I can't lose my prefect badge because of some silly prank gone wrong."

"You couldn't lose it by just one misstep, Lyla," All heads swiveled to Peter as he spoke his opinion. Under the sudden scrutiny, he turned mousy and then looked at his plate for a long pause before following up. "I mean, it's just that Moony over there has had so many detentions over the course of the years and he hasn't been demoted yet."

"True to the point, Wormtail," James praised and Peter's face lifted from his plate. His watery blue eyes were shining and that sense of protectiveness I felt towards him was doubled. If ever there was a lost cause in our group, it was definitely Peter. Not to be mean or anything, but it just seemed like he would never be as great at the rest of the Marauders. "And, no, Lyla; the recipient of our diabolical decoy was no one who would get you in trouble. However, they will most definitely pay us back ten-fold."

He let the suspense build until Blair gasped, hit the table, and stole his thunder. "Andy Ablo!" She whisper shouted and James looked disappointed as he gazed at Blair with an exasperated expression.

"Really, bear; you just had to tell everyone before I could let the buildup reach it's peak. That is just like a girl, you know, and if it hadn't have been for," Then he stopped mid-sentence and looked to somewhere over our shoulders. "Oh, Andy Ablo." He said before his smile turned megawatt and he bit his fist to keep from bursting his face open.

Following his gaze, I looked back over my shoulder and felt my eyes widen to extreme proportions. "What the hell," Sirius wondered aloud; and although I was mad at him, I couldn't help but agree. Stalking towards us from the entrance hall was a balding female in a Gryffindor trimmed robe wearing an expression on her face like she had just swallowed ten kilos of bustobber pus. Blair let out a laugh as Andy found us and then slowed her walk and ignored the open mocking happening around her.

"Alexa, I'd like a word please." I sighed as I tried to contain my laughter. What was it with people wanting a word with me? First the guy at the train station, then my prideful boyfriend, and now my ex-best friend's new best friend. It was getting a little tiring. However, at least this new nuisance looked funny and provided me with some comedic relief.

"Go on, then Diablo. I'm listening," I told her while looking up at her bald head. Noticing where my gaze had gone, she rubbed her hand over her smooth head and then narrowed her eyes at me.

"I know you had something to do with this half-assed prank, Parker," She spat and I closed my eyes before opening them again to see Bree come up behind Sirius and lay a hand on his shoulder. Luckily for him, he flinched away when he saw who it was. "Bree and I just want to let you know that now we're gunning for your eternal destruction even more."

"Right, because making Lyla bald and Alexa break into hives wasn't enough for you guys," Blair said with a roll of her eyes. At least she knew how to stand up for someone. It was Andy's turn to roll her eyes as she looked at Blair who was now leaning in towards James who had his hand on her shoulder.

Like something out of a horror movie, Bree's laugh resounded around the table grating my already tense nerves and then curling around in my brain. "Well it seems that we've forgotten to bring someone up to speed on what is happening around her little world." She said while looking from Blair to me and then to Lyla. I narrowed my eyes while Remus stood up from the table and took the arm of his ex-girlfriend forcefully.

"Andy, Bree, I think the feast is about to begin and if you'd like to stay and talk about the finer points of Professor Dumbledore's speech after the feast, I'm sure we could set something up for a detention." Both girls looked from the prefect badge on the marauder's chest and the wrenched out of his hold.

"Fine, we're out of here. But just know that just because I'm bald and Madame Pomfrey won't heal me doesn't mean that we won't get you back equally until the only friend you'll have over there is Pettigrew," Bree said while staring at Peter menacingly. Which totally reminded me that she and Peter had a history together. A history that we had exposed to the entire school.

Huh. Anyways, as she said this, James jumped from his seat on the bench raising his voice as he spoke to the retreating backs of our foes. "Peter is a better friend than you've ever been, Williams, and bring it on!" He shouted drawing attention to us as the hall settled down for Dumbledore who was now standing at his podium.

"Well, thank you Mr. Potter, for that grand show of friendship. Welcome back to Hogwarts for the remainder of the year, students. As always we would like to remind you that your bags have been checked at the door and all confiscated items can be returned by Mr. Filch at the end of the remaining school days." Here, Dumbledore paused and looked over to James whose face had fallen at the mention of confiscated items.

He looked over to Sirius as Dumbledore continued his speech, "Pads, the map wasn't in your trunk was it? Tell me you at least put it in the hidden compartment." Sirius looked up from his apparently offending goblet. James's eyes were expectant as Sirius just shrugged his shoulders. Then because he is such a baby and can't own up to when he's wrong, he went back to staring at the goblet.

Feeling sorry for James and my own anger bubbling over, I said sarcastically, "Oh yes, please show that goblet who's boss Sirius. Because your friends really need to be protected from _that_." As the steel eyes looked up at my own, Lyla put a calming hand on my shoulder before I could make a fool out of myself while Dumbledore was still making his speech.

"Sometimes I wonder why you even bother, Alexa. If all you want to do is complain about the things I do then why should I stick up for you?" My mouth dropped as Blair kicked Sirius sharply under the table and the rest of my friends sat watching us in awkward silence. As Sirius continued to glare at me, I felt tears prick behind the back of my eyes and I turned away to look back up to where Dumbledore was talking.

"Furthermore, friendship will be what holds us all together in the end. So develop the relationships that will strengthen your life and tuck in." With a broad smile and twinkling eyes, Dumbly waved his arm widely and food began to fill our plates. While everyone was distracted enough for the moment, I swiped my hand under my eyes quickly to catch any stray wetness.

I didn't think anyone had noticed until I saw James grab my goblet and fill it with tea. The smile he gave me was empathetic instead of one of sympathy. Which gave me the feeling like James knew what it was like to be yelled at by his friend. The same friend that was right now eating without really caring that he had just made his girlfriend cry.

I sighed as I cut into the noodles that Lyla had heaped on my plate. So everyone must have felt sorry for me and like I need them to talk for me. Wrong. Actually, when you thought about it that's kind of what I was mad at Sirius for so it didn't make much sense. Wow, my brain was starting to hurt. After a few minutes of the awkward silence between us, Remus began to make conversation with the table. Luckily for all of us, the random bursts of smart facts were only available in adult conversation.

Blair, being the social person that she was, latched onto the subject like a life buoy in choppy water. Peter eventually joined in as James addressed him directly and then Lyla joined in on the talking. I took the moment of dialogue and decided to bring Sirius down to earth. "Sirius, we need to talk about this." I said quietly while my friends ignored us for the sake of being private.

"I really don't want to talk about this right now, Alex. So can we please just drop the subject?" He went back to pick his fork up and brushed me off. That's when I got angry and decided that being rational could leap out a window for all I cared.

"We're not just going to drop it, Sirius. And I don't really care if you want to talk about it or not because I do." With a clang of silverware, Sirius dropped his fork and looked up at me with a stony face. I should really learn to keep our fights to private places. The loud bang of silverware brought the attention of some of the occupants of the hall to our table.

Unfortunately, Sirius decided to ignore this and raise his voice, whether intentional or not. "Why do you _need_ to talk this out? I'm not going to say I was wrong because I don't care, okay. I don't care if you were offended but it was none of your's or anyone else's business." I gritted my teeth as he pulled a hand through his black locks and then lowered his voice to speak directly at me. "You of all people should know that with your family."

I was about to respond when James cut me off, being the only one in our group to actually know how to handle his bipolar attitude. "Sirius, that's not how you're supposed to talk to your girlfriend. Especially one that is trying to be a functional couple with you." Sirius rolled his eyes and then rose from the table to walk away.

"You would know, James. If I recall you were the one to mess things over with her, weren't you?" He asked nodding towards Blair who looked even more pissed off now. "And I'd thank you for staying out of my romantic business." And then he stalked from the table leaving all of us staring in his wake. I felt bad, but then even worse for the stray third year that chose that moment to get up from his bench to walk in front of Sirius to his friend's table.

The hall broke into whispers as Sirius left and I could feel many scathing eyes on my back and face from all sides. Remus was the first one to speak after the outburst. "Alexa, he's just going through a lot right now. He doesn't mean anything by it. We all know he really cares for you." I looked up sharply at my sister's boyfriend and then at the rest of the table.

Lyla was biting her lip and looking over at Remus, the empty space between Remus and Peter was giving me a clear view of the Ravenclaw table where Emmeline Vance was glaring at me with her narrowed blue eyes, and Blair was pulling her roll apart with her fork. Then as I looked at James, I saw that I wasn't the only one feeling terrible. James was clenching his fists and his jaw was set in a straight, stiff line.

"He _never_ yells at me like that," James mused as he looked up at me from over Blair's shoulder. "Sure he may raise his voice but he _never_ yells. Ever. It's like this unspoken bond between us that hasn't been crossed but for a few times."

I shrugged my shoulders and stood from the bench. "If it's any consolation we fight all the time and he yells at me instead." I told James and he nodded his head while continuing to feel sorry for himself. Blair grabbed for my arm as I crossed over to the outside of the bench and I stopped for her.

"Alex, it's probably better if you just let him alone. He's in a mood and if you try to talk this out he's going to be," I shrugged her off while getting ready to leave the hall.

"I'm not going after him, trust me. Right now I'm pissed off and if anything happened it would most likely end with one of us in the hospital wing." I smiled to let them know I was kidding and then I scooped up my bag from the floor. "I'm just going to the dorms to get out of all the whispering. It's giving me the hives." for good measure, I shook out my arms like I really was broken out and then waved to them as I left. After all, if you're going to blatantly lie to your friends, you have to back it up.

Taking the stairs two at a time, I reached the landing to the Gryffindor portrait out of breath and pissed off. I tried my hardest to remember the password to the portrait and could only pray that they hadn't changed it since before break. "Mistletoe?" I questioned the fat lady who continued to look at herself in her hand-held mirror. "Mistletoe!" I yelled breathily and she finally looked me in the eye.

"Please, dear, you don't have to yell. My ears certainly haven't gotten any smaller since I last saw you." I rolled my eyes at her, trying to signal with a look that I really didn't have time for her. Apparently, it must have worked. "Oh, well, alright then girl. Go on in." She swung outwards to reveal the portrait hole and I clambered through, while tripping a bit on my robe.

As I made it into the common room, I stewed my bag onto the nearest couch to the girls stairs and then took the stairs to the boy's dorm while pulling out my wand. When I reached the door marked for the sixth year boys, I knocked hard on the door. "Sirius! You open this door right now."

There was no answer and I rolled my eyes before pounding on the door again. "If you don't unlock this door I'm going to blow it open!" A faint 'try it' came from inside the room and my frustration got the better of me. As I let out a annoyed sigh, I pointed my wand at the lock and muttered, "Alohamora." The lock, however, did not budge. "_Alohamora_." I tried again but it was no use.

"You really leave me no choice, Sirius," I said as I stood back and thought to Defense class from fourth year. Pointing my wand in the direction of the door, I kept my voice down so not to blow the whole dorm to pieces. "Expulso!" I said while thrusting my wand towards the door knob.

"Shit!" I heard from the other side as the doorknob exploded and the door flew open. "Merlin, Alexa! Was it really necessary to blow the whole damn door down." I looked inside the room at Sirius who was standing opposite the door, a large bump beginning to expand on his left temple. Immediately I felt bad and rushed over to make sure he was okay.

"Lord, I never meant for you to get hurt. If you had just opened the door instead of being such a baby this wouldn't have happened." I told him while reaching up to remove his hand from covering the bump that was starting to bruise already. He flinched back when I touched the goose egg lightly and I led him over towards his bed so he could sit down. "Why are you being such a girl about this, Sirius? I just want to talk instead of fight." I said as he sat down and looked at me as I leaned over him.

"You don't get it, Alexa. I can't talk to you about this because I don't want you to get involved." I opened my mouth to tell him to go to hell and stop being baby, but he continued on over top of my voice, "My family is twisted and the less you know the better. By telling you about them, by causing a scene at the train station, it would have brought attention to you. Attention you wouldn't want."

I straightened to where I was standing in front of him and put my hands on my hips. "So are you trying to tell me that I can't take care of myself? That I need you to protect me, because I don't okay?" He looked up at me like I just wasn't understanding what he needed to say.

"That may be what you think, but you just don't know. And I thought we were fighting about the fact that I _didn't _stand up for you?" He watched me with a bewildered expression and I rolled my eyes.

"Don't mix my words, Sirius!"

He ran another hand through his hair, wincing as his fingers brushed over his bump. "Listen, it's just better if we don't talk about this. Can't we just pretend that this never happened?" He took my hands from my hips and held them in his own but I was still trying to make sense of all of this.

"No, we can't just forget about this. I'm not one of your other girlfriends that just accept what's coming from your mouth as the holy word. I need to know what's going on because if we can't trust each other then why are we bothering?" I questioned him and he stood up from where he was sitting, towering over me and making it harder to feel like I had the upper hand in the fight.

"This is why I can't tell you! Because you aren't like my other girlfriends. You'll take this upon yourself as your problem and I don't want you to protect me. I don't need you trying to protect me," He said while getting angry and taking me by the shoulders. I had the strangest thought that he was going to shake me and then I brushed it off. That's one thing I knew was that he wouldn't hurt me.

"I can protect myself just fine thank you. And are you trying to tell me that you would just explain this to someone like Bree, who only wants you for your body? So because I have a brain I'm the one exception and I can't know what's going on around me?" I put both my hands on his chest and shoved. He stumbled slightly then righted himself looking at me bewilderedly. "I should kick your ass just because you suggested that."

Sirius blanked on me for a minute and the rolled his eyes. "I didn't suggest anything! It's just your psychotic brain running away with you again. Wasn't it you that said you always thought you were crazy?" I narrowed my eyes and went to shove him again but he caught my arm by the wrist and held tighter as I tried to pull away. "Taking care of yourself doesn't just mean that you're mentally capable, Alexa. I need to be the one protecting you."

Taking my other hand, I formed a fist meaning to only hit him_ lightly_ but he caught that with his other hand and pulled me closer while my anger swarmed at being over powered. "Let go and I'll show you that I can kick your ass." I told him and he laughed at me while tugging my wrist some to show that he was still stronger. Not really thinking of the consequences, I pushed us both down and he hit the mattress so we were wrestling to pin the other down and show the other who was stronger.

It took me a second to wrestle out of his hold and pin his shoulders down to the mattress. He was looking up at me, his hair draping over his forehead and into his eyes and I stuck my tongue out. "See, I am stronger." I said childishly but in the next instant I shrieked as he flipped me onto my back, his knees at either side of my hips, and my wrists pinned next to my head.

"Think again," He said while his grey eyes twinkled in the light.

Now, don't hold anything against me because what would you have done in this instant. The adrenaline and anger from our little tussle had my head spinning and the close proximity with Sirius only added to mix. We were silent for a potent moment before Sirius leaned down and captured my lips with his own.

Using the kiss as an output for my anger, I pushed myself into the kiss as Sirius let go of my wrists to grab my waist. I let my hands do their own thing as I gripped Sirius's strong shoulders and we moved up the bed to where I was lying against the pillow instead of in the middle of the bed. His lips moved against my own with a well practiced motion and I felt my anger begin to ebb away as he bit my lower lip.

Jumping slightly as I felt his bare hands touch the skin where my shirt had ridden up and my jeans didn't cover, I realized how hot I was in my robe. When we broke apart for much needed air, I tried to speak as Sirius kissed my throat. "I need to get this robe off," I said breathily, not really meaning for it to sound as provocative as it really did.

I met Sirius's eyes and saw them darken in color as he moved the robe down my arms and then lifted me off the thing as it dropped from the bed. We stared at each other for a minute before kissing again, this time with less anger and more passion. Putting my arms around his neck, I let my fingers play with the hair at the nape of his neck and giggled as his long fingers brushed over my ticklish stomach muscles.

Sirius growled playfully as he did it again and then one hand reached up to gently pull the hair tie out of my curly locks. His hands sifted through the tangles while we continued to kiss and I sighed when he tilted my head back to deepen the kiss. This is where the moment ended however as there was a feminine gasp that wasn't from me and then Sirius was rolling on the bed next to me in convulsions of laughter.

As the barking laughter filled the room, I looked at the doorway to see Blair, James, and Remus standing in shock. Blair had her wand out, having had just cast the _rictusempra_ that had sent Sirius into the fit of laughter he was trying to over come. We all continued to look at one another with wide eyes, before Sirius laughed out a 'help' and we sprung into action.

"Finite," James said with conviction and the spell lifted. As the laughter died off, Lyla came running up the stairs to most likely see what was taking the rest of the group so long. "She wasn't in the dorms, Blair. And she said she was going to be there. I swear to Merlin that if she's with Sirius and the two of them have," She stopped as she came upon the scene. "Well, never mind."

Rolling off the bed, I picked my robe up from the floor, slipping it back on, and then looked around for my hair tie. "We are dating and if this is how we choose to fight I don't want to hear a word from any of you." I said menacingly as I looked at our friends who were all staring like they wanted to laugh. I turned my back on them, facing Sirius who was clutching his stomach with one had and holding my twist tie in the other.

"We'll just see you lot downstairs then?" Sirius said while straightening his pillow and pretending like we had just been keeping it cute up here instead of fighting like maniacs and then scarring Captain Awesome for life. Blair was the first person to crack as she started laughing and then she led the rest of the group away. When it was silent again, I dropped to the bed and picked Captain Awesome up from the floor.

"That didn't really solve anything, Sirius." I said while smoothing the bear's fur down. Sirius leaned back against the pillow next to me. As I lifted my head up, Sirius slid his arm behind me and I curled into his side. "I'm still mad about all of this you know. You shouldn't have been such an ass to everyone back there."

Sirius let me berate him as he rubbed the Captain's ear. "I know, and have I told you that I'm sorry?" He leaned down and let his head rest on my own. "I meant what I said before though. Your loyalty is one of the reasons I care for you so much. And it's also the reason I can't let you know about my family. I won't let you get hurt trying to protect me, Alexa. So for once, just be the girl okay? And let me take care of you."

I knew it was a losing battle, so I nodded my head and snuggled closer to my boyfriend. "I'll try, but I'm not going to sit back and let stuff just happen. You're going to have to tell me eventually." I felt Sirius shrug and I elbowed him in the stomach. "Just agree with me or I'll have to teach you who's boss."

He laughed and I jumped from the bed, holding Captain Awesome for ransom. "You wouldn't dare," He said as he sat up with one leg on the ground. "Think again," I mocked as he had earlier and then I sprang for the door, wrenching it open and running down the stairs with Sirius on my tail.

"Lyla, Blair, there's someone that the Common Room needs to meet!" I sing-songed as I came into view. Blair looked up from her game of cards with Remus and Lyla turned from the book in her lap to see what I was talking about. When they saw the Captain, both of their faces lit up and turned deviant. Luckily for Sirius, there weren't many people in the room at this point so he wouldn't be too embarrassed if he didn't follow my orders.

Plopping down in the space next to James, I put him in front of me as protection. Sirius and James stopped and looked at each other while I peeked from behind my be-speckled friend. "Sirius, if you want to be saved your pride, you will apologize to James." Sirius, for once, knew he had actually done wrong to his friend. James, on the other hand, looked hopeful and a little like a lost puppy without his friend.

"Prongs, while my actions are far greater than the snow extravaganza of 1975, I would be humbled if you would give me an honorary Marauder pardon and we could put all of this behind us." Sirius said in what I'm sure is a ceremony that they go through in all their 'rules.' James acted like he was thinking about it for a minute before he looked over at Remus.

"Messer Prongs, Messer Padfoot would like to be pardoned for his actions on this night, January fourth, and be reinstated into the pack. Should you choose that a pardon is in order then our wolf pack grows by one. However, should you decline we will permanently remove him and our pack decreases." I bit my lip to contain my laughter and I saw Blair was, once again, the only one that couldn't control herself. Lyla, it seemed, was muffling herself behind a pillow.

James looked over at Sirius who was giving his best impersonation of a shunned puppy and then nodded his head once. "Yes, our pack has just grown by one. Give us a shake, Padfoot." They did their brotherly hand shake, grasping each others forearm and shaking firmly once before they let go and smiled at each other. Then Sirius turned towards Blair and addressed her next.

"Blair, it is with a sincere and humble heart that I apologize to you for dredging up the past in my time of extreme anger. One could say that I had blacked out in rage as to what my disgraceful swine of a family had said to you all. Could you ever forgive me, fair maiden?" Blair smiled and stood up to curtsey in her woolen, plaid skirt.

"Why of course, young Sirius. As long as it never happens again," She said with a stern eye and he rolled the sleeve of her turtleneck up to kiss her hand. We all laughed as he knelt to the ground and bowed low. "It shall never return." After his epic performance, Sirius stood up and walked towards me with his arms out. Begrudgingly, I kissed Captain Awesome's forehead and then handed him over.

Sirius looked over his bear with love and then whispered in the things ear. "Now, Captain, if she touched you in any inappropriate places like the ones we talked about you just tell me, okay?" He put the bear's muzzle to his ear and then nodded a few times in understanding. "I'll keep that between us."

"I'll slap you in the face," I told Sirius in a calm voice and he covered Captain's ears.

"It looks like someone already did," Remus said as we all crowded around the couches so Sirius could regale the tale of me blasting the door open on his face. Ah yes, those were good times. I smiled as I made room for Sirius to sit next to me and then I watched as Blair took the spot next to James' feet, leaning back on him as he squeezed her shoulders.

As Sirius embellished the story to the point where it was barely recognizable to me, I watched the interaction between James and Blair who were now acting more like a couple than Lyla and Remus at the moment. Which was hard to do seeing as they were like the perfect freaking couple. Ignoring that, I kept a closer eyes on Blair's hands, which were now wrapped around James' ankles while his hands were holding onto her shoulders as he leaned forward to listen to Sirius.

"And then she jumped me." Sirius ended and I had to practically sit on my hands so I wouldn't reach over and pull his hair out. My best friends laughed and I tried not to give myself away as I bit my lip. For once, I wasn't thinking about how to get everyone back but instead about how to get James and Blair to come clean about their resounding feelings towards each other.

"I didn't jump you, Black. Please, I have more taste than that." I said while pushing my hair back behind my ears and trying to focus on my sister enough so that she would feel the telepathy between us. Or maybe that only worked between twins. Finally, I caught Lyla's eye after many disgruntled seventh years caught me staring and glared before getting back to whatever they could possibly be doing. I mean, come on, people! School hasn't even started back yet.

Lyla looked at me strangely while I tried to signal between James, Blair, and the both of us. She seemed to finally understand that I wasn't just being a spaz and she nodded almost unnoticeably. Of course that meant that Remus, who was freaking perceptive, noticed and he looked at us strangely before Lyla whispered in his ear.

"I think I'm going to head up to the dorms," I said while I stood from the couch and stretched my arms over my head. Blair nodded her head and stood up from the floor, dusting her skirt off and then bid us all goodnight. "See you in the morning," I told Sirius who stood and walked with me over to the stairs where we hugged briefly.

"Sweet dreams," He said with a grin and I rolled my eyes as I made my way up the stairs to the sixth year dorms and our current home. When I walked in, Blair was unmaking her bed and humming quietly to herself. She smiled at me as I walked around her to get to my own four-poster and I tried to be sneaky as I opened my dresser and pulled out some pajamas.

As I was pulling my pajama shirt over my head, I made some passing comments. "It's good to be back at school," I said just loud enough for her to hear me and she made a noncommittal noise so I continued. "I mean, it's not like we weren't with everyone back at the house but being here just seems safe, you know? And I definitely think that the classes are going to be fun."

Peering over my shoulder, I saw that Blair was staring at a picture she had on her dresser of all of us before summer last year. More in particular she was staring at the portion containing she and James. Lyla came in finally and as she climbed over her bed to get to the other side of her night table, I nodded to where Blair was laying. Lyla nodded and took over where I had left off.

"So it's so good that we're all going to be able to get along in the dorms this time around. Things are still a little tense with Bree but I have a feeling that we'll be able to get around that. Just look at Alexa;" Lyla said and I rolled my eyes at her before plopping down into my bed. "She's even been able to make up with Sirius when he's a douche bag."

"Mm hmm," Blair muttered before sitting the picture back and picking up a brush to run through her hair. Lyla and I exchanged a look and I shrugged my shoulders. Why the heck wasn't Blair taking the bait like she usually does? Since when did our blabber mouth friend keep things on the down low. Whatever, it was time for me to take action.

"So how long have you continued to be in love with James?" I just asked bluntly and finally Blair's head snapped up. Actually, I'm surprised she didn't get whiplash. Out of nowhere, a pillow drilled me in the side of the face and I looked up to see Lyla with her mouth open. "What? The subtle approach was getting us nowhere and I _need_ this information."

Blair laughed and then sat cross-legged on her bed, stilling her brushing. "How did you guys know? I thought for me I was doing a good job of hiding it from you both." I blinked a few times at her casual acceptance of the fact that we knew she was still in love with him. "Alexa, you didn't really think that I had ever stopped loving him right?"

"She has a point, Blair," Lyla argued while I continued to be an idiot and wonder how I hadn't made that connection. "He did kind of break-up with you for Lily, or at least that's what we thought. I mean, we were ready to launch a full on attack to get you guys back together, but it just seemed like you were okay with it." I looked at my sister, hoping she wasn't going to go into greater detail about the 'plan.'

"What Lyla means to say, and I think I agree, is that you did kind of move on. It's not like you really let any grass grow beneath your feet before you met Adrian and just seemed to forget about James. You just kind of moved on and let it roll off of you, like it didn't hurt you." I tried to explain and Blair took it all in stride as the dreamy look on her face came back.

"Maybe it seemed like that, but it never really was for me. I mean, it did hurt and I think I was just trying to compensate for being dumped by choosing James' opposite. Adrian was a great guy and he was just what I needed to show me that I really do love James. He's the one that I still think about even when I'm with other guys. He's the one that I want there to comfort me when I'm hurt. He's just,' she looked up at us and I contained myself from saying, 'aw!' really loudly. "He's just the one."

She shrugged as if that explained it all and somehow I knew that to her it did. "So if James is what you really want, then what are you going to do to let him know? It has to suck not being with him when you love him that much." I said, realizing that once again, my curiosity had made the question sound harsher. "I don't mean to sound uncaring," I threw out before Lyla could hit me with projectile objects again.

Pulling her knees up to her chest, she laid her chin on the platform they made and looked at us for guidance. "I love James, but I'm not sure if I want him again. It was just so hard to have him the first time and then lose him. I don't know if I want to fall harder than this and then realize that it's over again." Her eyes glistened and the emotions on her face flickered from happiness to confusion.

"Whatever happens will be what's for the best, Blair. And at least this way you know your options and _you_ know that you gave it a shot, either scenario." Lyla said as she got up from her bed to sit next to Blair who swiped under her eyes and then smiled at us. I joined them soon after and put my arm over Blair's shoulder.

"If it will help out at all, besides Lyla and Remus, you and James are probably the couple that could make it through anything." We shared a best friend hug, then, and as we all leaned against Blair's pillows I could tell Blair was thinking it over.

"So since the whole jealously thing didn't work, mind telling me what you had in mind for this plan to get James and I back together?" She asked curiously. I knew more than saw Lyla tense up, becoming afraid that we had been caught. I tried to save our asses by playing it off as a joke.

I laughed and then laughed again because the first laugh sounded like a toothless hyena. Blair laughed too and Lyla's nervous laugh joined in. Then because I couldn't stop the giggling, I thought abut when Blair had to interrogate us about what we had been doing with us and I was so hungry. "Do you remember when you interrogated us on the same subject? Room of Requirements, jar of cookies, me spilling my guts on something I didn't even know was going on." I said and the laughs this time were real on all accounts.

"I was scared shitless until you started to say we were replacing you with Lily. It could have only been one person that put that thought in your head." Lyla laughed and then she flicked her hair over her shoulder in a great impersonation of 'El Diablo' when she had hair. "'Lyla and Alexa are such whores,'" she mimicked and a fresh round of giggles came from my throat.

"Can you believe how long ago that was?" Blair said as she straightened back up. "It almost seems like a lifetime ago. Just think of how much stuff has changed. Alexa and Caradoc were dating, then she dates Sirius in a surprise twist."

"Hey, you can not _even_ bring that up!" I mocked in an outraged voice.

"I can and I will," Blair said before rattling on, "I was on the path to destroy James, which ultimately failed, and Bree was still being a manipulative bitch." Lyla nodded while no doubt thinking of my run in with Bree and Diablo in that deserted corridor. "Funny how the only thing that hasn't changed is the fact that Bree still wants to destroy us."

"Is it possible that you both realize the only stable people in our group of friends are Remus and I," Lyla questioned us and Blair and I both stopped to think for a moment. True it was always either Remus or my sister that stopped me from doing something stupid. True they had never broken up and/or fought on a daily basis. True they had been destined for each other from the beginning. True they had never done any public battles or paybacks.

"I see no evidence of that." I said and Blair nodded her head.

"True to point, Alexa. If anyone is dysfunctional it would be the couple of Lyla and Remus." Lyla pouted while Blair and I looked around like we were looking for back up. I leaned back against the pillows on Blair's bed and then closed my eyes. Seconds later I felt the fluffy pillows sink indicating that my friends had joined me. "Really though, you guys, thanks for supporting me in this."

"You would do the same for us, Blair, so it's not like we're going out of our way." Lyla said and Blair nodded. "Just let us know what you want to do and we're there. And as hard as it will be for Alexa to not interfere, we will stay out of your business unless you want us to help."

Blair smiled and then sat up before patting our legs and getting up from her bed. "Well, I would gladly appreciate the chance to figure this out before we launch our battle plan. Thanks guys," She hugged us quickly before walking towards the bathrooms. "I'm going to get ready for bed. I'll see you all in the morning?"

"Yeah, see you bright and early for breakfast." I told her as I walked back to my own bed. Lyla did the same and as I slipped under my covers I caught her eye. "So the plan is definitely off." I whispered, just in case Blair could somehow hear me from through the door and over the running water. Lyla looked around like someone was going to jump out from the shadows and then answered me.

"I'm pretty sure that goes without saying." She said before fluffing her pillow and laying down. "Sweet dreams, Alex." She mocked as Sirius did earlier and I rolled my eyes before smiling and pulling my curtains closed.

----

"What do you mean that we play _tomorrow_, professor?" Remus was questioning as we emerged from our dormitory around nine o'clock in the morning the next day. I rounded the corner in front of Blair and Lyla to see Remus standing and talking to Professor McGonagall who was sporting a rather sour expression to go with her tartan outfit.

She sighed as if talking to Remus was taking a great deal of her waning strength. "I mean precisely what I just said, Mr. Lupin. The Gryffindor Quidditch team will be playing against Ravenclaw tomorrow around noon. As the announcer to most games, you are required to know twenty-four hours before hand to prepare yourself and get the word out."

"That's not what I meant, professor. What I mean is that why did we have such little notice about all of this? Wasn't the match supposed to be scheduled for two weeks from now?" Remus asked as we came up behind him and McGonagall gave us all a short nod of acknowledgement. Then she turned back to the discussion of the only other thing besides Transfiguration she cared about. And that would be the Gryffindor team.

"Originally, yes; but that was before the Headmaster gave Black permission to start in the matches for the rest of the year. Professor Flitwick felt that the match should be moved up to before classes began and so it has been." She pursed her lips as she said this and then looked around the common room for a speckled git with messy black hair. "I see Mr. Potter has already heard the news?" She said with a small smile.

I looked around and realized that both James and Sirius were not in the common room. And neither were any of the other Gryffindor team players. "Found out early this morning. I guess he's already on the pitch with the rest of the team." With a terse nod, she began to make her way out of the room, but a question from Lyla stopped her.

"Professor, hasn't Sirius been practicing with the team all year anyways?" Lyla asked while looking slightly confused. McGonagall looked back with a slight smirk on her face that reminded me of something that James would have given us. Wow. I did just compare my teacher to one of my best friends.

"Exactly." Was all the explanation she gave before disappearing through the portrait hole. We all just kind of looked around at each other before just shrugging it off. Sometimes it was better just accept what was going through people's minds than to actually try and analyze it.

"So I'm guessing that James has had them out at the pitch since the crack of dawn?" I asked as we left the common room and made our way down towards the Great Hall. I checked the durability of the sweatshirt I had on and then actually summoned my coat successfully from the dorms before we were completely out of the Common Room. At the questioning looks, I shrugged my shoulders. "It would probably be nice of me to smooth things over with Sirius by bringing him breakfast."

Blair looked at me with a sympathetic expression. "I doubt that James is even going to let them off the pitch until it gets to dark to see," She said with a shrug but summoned her own coat anyways. Lyla and Remus followed in our steps as Blair and I led the way to the Great Hall where breakfast was underway. After grabbing some muffins and a couple napkins full of bacon, we made our way back to the doors where the frigid air was waiting.

It was funny that, as we neared the pitch, even over the harsh wind you could hear the loud yells coming from James as he tried to get his team ready for the game. "He's going to kill them all," Remus muttered as we made our way up the bleachers to a good spot where we could see most everything that was going on. Half of the team were in red robes while the other half sported gold and both 'teams' were playing against each other and while James played chaser, he also coached.

"Caradoc, for Merlin's sake, the game is _tomorrow_! Show some interest or get off the damn field." James hollered from his position at the other end of the pitch and my ex-boyfriend looked back at him before turning his back and flying off around the pitch. "Can everyone please tell me what the hell is going on so we can practice?! I will not lose to Ravenclaw and ruin our chances for the cup."

"Maybe if we could just take a short break," Marlene suggested as she wiped sweat from her brow and held the quaffle under her right arm. How she could be sweating when it was minus ten degrees out here I had no idea. I pulled at the sleeves of my coat, bringing them down to almost cover my gloved hands, and then thanked the gods that the bleachers blocked the strong winds.

A streak of black went by and I looked up in time to see Sirius wink at me from where he was on his broom. I waved at him emphatically and then looked back to James who was running his gloved hand through his hair. "Five minute break then. If you can make it up to the castle for breakfast then so be it, but if you aren't back I'm going to make you wish you'd never had a break."

The team broke apart, some flying off towards the castle the others just going to the ground and lying in the snow to cool down. A _whooshing_ noise was heard next to me and James and Sirius landed on the risers. I grinned at Sirius, who was holding his bat and rubbing his red nose with his ungloved hand. After flopping on the bench next to me, he closed his eyes and I gathered his cold hands in my own.

"We brought you something to eat," I told him while I created friction between our hands to warm his up. He smiled with his eyes still closed and then opened one to look at James who was sitting next to Remus ad shoving his face with food. "That is if James doesn't shove it all down his throat first." I directed my words to my friend and he looked up at us all before throwing in a shrug and a small smile.

"You have no idea how hard it is to get the team ready. I still need to give them new strategies for the specific players on our opponents and McGonagall is going to go crazy if we don't win. Why Flitwick feels the need for us to bump the match up I'll never know," James continued to rant as Blair came over and put her arm around his shoulder so he could have someone to talk to. Remus cautiously escaped the crazy Quidditch Nazi and sat on Sirius' other side.

"I'm assuming that I'm one of the reasons that we're playing early?" Sirius asked without sounding like he really cared. He squeezed my hands and then sent a roguish smile my way. "You know my hands would warm a lot faster if you'd let me put them under your coat." I felt my face heat up despite the cold while I removed my hands from his and folded them across my chest.

"And to think that I was going to feed you so you would get a break from your grueling practice." Sirius put his best puppy dog face on and then sat with one leg on either side of the bench so he would be facing me. He pulled me towards him and into a hug and against my better judgment, I leaned into him anyways. "We're getting to be about as sickening as Lyla and Remus."

Lyla huffed from where she was sitting, chewing on a bit of muffin before sending us an indignant expression. "I would never let Remus put his hands up my shirt in public." She said and then motioned to where Sirius hands were encircling my waist. Under my coat. I glared up at him but decided that since he wasn't technically under my shirt I'd let him keep his hands there.

"I'm just warming my hands here. Surely you wouldn't deny me that?" He asked and I rolled my eyes.

"Next time just use gloves," I told him while picking up my own muffin and biting into it. We sat in a sleepy silence for a while, Sirius resting against my back while Remus and Lyla sat together against the bleachers. I looked over to where James was looking at Blair in bewilderment as she talked sports.

"It's just if you really want to go for the gold so to speak you need to get Caradoc playing keeper and move Thomas up to chaser. Caradoc's reflexes are just faster and I know that Ferry is an amazing chaser for Ravenclaw. She would show Thomas up out there and then even if we caught the snitch, the goals she would get would probably even it all out." Blair paused to look at the pitch thoughtfully while James continued to stare.

"You can't be serious?" James asked and Blair's eyes widened, thinking she had overstepped into dangerous territory. Everyone, and I mean _everyone_, knew that you didn't mess with James' Quidditch strategy. "That sounds like the," We all waited with baited breath as he waved a piece of bacon around for emphasis, "the most gutsy and deviant thing we could do. It would definitely send that team a curveball."

He stood from his seat quickly and we all looked at each other with confusion. "You're going to go with what Blair suggested?" Remus asked quickly, going into reporter mode as he stocked up on things he could use when announcing tomorrow. James nodded his head quickly and then retrieved the whistle from around his neck.

He blew into it quickly and loudly, the sound ringing out all over the pitch and deafening my ears. "Of course I am, Moony. This is a brilliant strategy and Thomas is just a fourth year so he'll learn quickly as chaser. Plus, with Caradoc as keeper there's less chance of him ruining the passing strategy by being a stuck up prick." He looked around at all of us and then narrowed in on Sirius. "Get off your ass and stop fondling your girlfriend, Padfoot. And thanks Bear," He added on as both boys retrieved their brooms.

Sirius placed a quick kiss on my cheek before he mounted his broom and rose in the air. "Thanks for sharing your body heat, Alex." He said cheekily before flying back over to where the team was assembled in the air listening to James explain the new game arrangement. Making sure no one was watching, I touched the place on my cheek and blushed before joining Blair on the stands to watch the rest of practice.

"And Gryffindor takes the lead with a goal by Thomas Jones putting them up 30 to 10." Remus shouted into the microphone the next day as we stood in the announcer's booth during the Ravenclaw-Gryffindor match. It was sunny, but still undeniably cold outside but with the combined body heat of the students, the layers, and the blanket we had draped over us it was pretty comfortable.

The crowd roared as the fourth year boy soared back into a defensive position, dodging a bludger that was sent his way by the Ravenclaw beater. As we cheered along with the crowd, Blair pointed out James through the thicket of players that were now bashing each other for the quaffle. So far it had been a fair match, both teams scoring in the first five minutes and then dragging it on for the next thirty as the quaffle had been deflected by both keepers.

"You have to admit that Gryffindor did pull a fast one on the Ravenclaw team with the switch of Jones and Dearborn. However, both teams seem evenly matched as Potter and Simmons go head to head for the quaffle." There was an angry roar from the Slytherin and Ravenclaw stands as a bludger knocked the Ravenclaw captain away from James and the quaffle soared into the air, being caught before it began its descent by Marlene.

"And that bludger, sent by Black, was just what Gryffindor needed for possession. The quaffle goes to McKinnon, to Potter, stolen by Connell who drops it while dodging a steal by Jones," Remus kept up his commentary as we stood from our seats to see the action that was going on in front of us.

As the possession turned back to Gryffindor, the crowds went silent as we all waited with baited breath as James pulled his arm back for a shot. "Come on, Potter!" I yelled while next to me Blair jumped up and down wildly as he let the quaffle go. Just as we thought the ball would be deflected it soared past the keepers fingers and through the bottom hoop.

"Make that 40 to 10, Gryffindor!" Remus announced through the crowds. McGonagall said something that could just be heard in her 'be fair' tone but the smugness that her team was winning was shining through a bit. "Right, sorry Professor." He said and then went back to the game.

"I'm going to go sit with Remus," Lyla said as she snuck out of our blanket covering and then pushed through the crowd. I looked over to Blair who shrugged and then grabbed my arm as Sirius dodged a bludger from the other team. As he flew closer to the stands we were in, I leaned over the side some and yelled towards him. "Don't you dare get yourself hurt, Black! I will not be your nurse."

I could see his smile as he pulled back and hit the offending black ball towards the Ravenclaw keeper. "Anything for you, love." He said and then flew back into the action. There were a few sighs from around me as the wind whipped his hair off his gorgeous face and I had to stifle my smile. Yes, I knew I was lucky. Blair giggled from next to me and then pushed ear muffs down over her ears more.

"The glares you're getting from those third years should be enough to set you on fire, Alex. Mind if I use your hat?" She asked while shoving her mitten hands at me. Pushing my red toboggan further over my curls I rolled my eyes at her.

"For goodness sakes, Blair, you're a witch. Just transfigure the thing into a hat." I said with a nudge towards her so she knew I was kidding. I turned back to where the Ravenclaw team where flying towards Caradoc who was watching the quaffle as if it held all of life's answers. "These match too well," I heard Blair say as she rubbed at her ear muffs. Not paying much attention, I gripped the edge of the stand sharply as Caradoc looked away for a second too long and the ball soared right past him into the hoop.

"As Dearborn lets something catch his eye, the quaffle lands through the middle hoop and brings Ravenclaw closer to Gryffindor who leads 40 to 20." Remus' dejected voice rang out as James flew with lightning speed to where Caradoc was situated.

"Come on, Caradoc!" I heard my sister's voice travel through the back current that the microphone caught. "That's rubbish!" Blair and I fought to contain our laughter but eventually gave up. We laughed for a few minutes with the rest of the stands, just imagining Lyla's look of horror before we caught sight of James. He was now berating Caradoc and taking his Quidditch Nazi title to a new level. I couldn't hear what he was saying but the look on his face pretty much summed up what the whole Gryffindor crowd was thinking. What. The. Hell?

However, as Sirius and one of the Prewitt brothers deflected crazed bludgers from their teammates and the chasers continued to pass and steal, the one thing that caught everyone's attention was two very blurred streaks marring the blue sky. Apparently, whilst Caradoc had been pulling a 'who gives a shit' the seekers had been doing their jobs and had caught sight of the snitch.

"Jackson pulls forward over Clark who bumps herself forward by pulling onto the back of Jackson's broom!" Remus said with a confused tone, not entirely sure if that move was legal. "And Clark, who has apparently committed no foul, pulls forward for Gryffindor. She's nearly there now," He said with an anxiousness in his voice and as the crowd roared, a group of girls from the stand screamed.

Blair and I looked over just in time to see a figure be knocked from their broom by a bludger and begin to plummet towards the ground. Just as quickly, another figure trailed behind the fallen person, and they were quickly followed by the rest of the Gryffindor team sans Seeker.

"James!" Blair cried out and we leaned as far as we could over the stands just in time to see the figure, who we could clearly see was James, hit the ground with a thud. I forgot all about the game, watching with baited breath for James to move as some of the team members landed next to him and began to hurry along. It was as if no one seemed to notice and more screams rang out as people began to look for the rest of the Gryffindor team.

"Professor!" Someone yelled from the announcing station as at the same time Remus yelled out, "And Gryffindor Carry Clark has caught the snitch!"

-----------------

Amulet's Note: Well, well, well. That was just splendid! Granted it took her long enough, but finally it is complete. All thanks to me really. If I hadn't been on her case constantly, this may never have been finished. So, you're welcome. So just to let you know the next chapter may be a little bit different; just to change it up a bit. It's a surprise but we hope you will like it! Now take your mouse and hit that lovely review button and, well, REVIEW!!!

AmuletGirl


	21. Stealth

Disclaimer: We definitely don't own the lovely characters of Rowling's seeing as how we're always complaining about school and she's no longer in school. We do, however, worship those characters.

Amulet Girls' Note: Hello! Sorry for the long wait, but we were just trying to be cool and were trying to get this awesome chapter out. It switches back and forth point of view-wise, but it's relatively easy to follow and it breaks up the tension of the situation and adds a little bit of comedic relief. Hope you enjoy, and drop us a shout if you have the time. I should have the next chapter out soon, as long as my lovely co-author can make an outline of worth. Also, sorry for the typos; we didn't get a lot of time to go over this before we put it up. But, I'm sure we'll go back and fix it soon!

Peace!

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_Stealth_

_Lyla's Point of View_

"Ms. Winchester, for the last time, when I know something, you will know something," Madame Pomfrey said sternly to Blair as we followed her around the hospital wing.

"But how can you not know what's wrong with him?" Blair prodded a look of worry on her face as James was being laid up in his bed. "You have to know. It's your job."

The lines on Madame Pomfrey's face thinned and hardened. "Ms. Winchester, Mr. Potter fell from his broom a hundred or so feet in the air. He broke several bones and is still unconscious. His bones are healing and until he becomes responsive again, we won't know anything. I have told you all of this already, so please, let me be to do my job." Madame Pomfrey turned from Blair, Alexa, Sirius, Remus, and myself and went to James's side. "I'm going to have to ask all of you to leave."

Blair slowly turned to face the rest of us, the saddest look on her face. We were all worried for James, but none of us seemed as worried as Blair. We were all scared about what was going to happen to him, but none of us seemed as scared as Blair. I stepped forward to take Blair into my arms. "It's going to be alright," I tried to comfort her. Alexa leaned in closer to Sirius as we all looked on James's seemingly lifeless body.

"What if he doesn't wake up?" Blair asked, her voice hitching mid sentence.

"Blair, he'll wake up, don't worry. I'm sure that this happens all the time in the Quidditch world; and I'm sure they all walk away perfectly normal," Alexa reassured her.

"Actually there have been recorded incidents of death," Sirius said, clearly not even thinking. Alexa gasped and quickly hit him. "Oh no, I didn't mean that. Well, I mean it's true, but I know James will be fine. I'll just be quiet now."

As much as we all wanted Sirius to be wrong, we knew he wasn't. James had been unconscious since he fell and from the way Madame Pomfrey was acting I could tell that even she was highly concerned, which was not good. "I'm sorry but you all must leave now," Madame Pomfrey said as she ushered us to the doors of the hospital wing. "It is getting late and I can't have this many students in my wing."

Blair went to protest but it was Remus who stepped forward to speak. "Madame Pomfrey, we understand that you can't have all of us in here, but we are asking you to understand that that is our best friend in that bed," Remus powerfully said pointing to James. "We are all extremely worried about James and if even one of us can stay we would greatly appreciate it."

Madame Pomfrey thought about it hard, looking from James to us. She let out a sigh of defeat. "If your Head of House says that it is alright I will allow for one of you to stay whenever you like, providing that it does not interfere with your studies." For the first time since the accident a slight smile graced Blair's delicate face. "Having some friends around may help him recover faster."

"Thank you," Remus said expressing all of our gratitude. Blair hugged me tighter and I could feel the slight relief she felt. "Well, I guess we should find McGonagall," Remus suggested.

"No need Mr. Lupin, I'm here." McGonagall was walking toward us, a concerned look on her face. "How is he Poppy?" she asked Madame Pomfrey.

Madame Pomfrey remained silent as she stood by James's bed causing Professor McGonagall to move away from us and closer to James. Madame Pomfrey looked back as us as if to make sure we were out of hearing range. As she leaned closer to McGonagall, we all stepped a little closer to eavesdrop. "I'm afraid it's not good Minerva. The boy has been non-responsive since he fell. His vitals are stable, his bones are healing, but I fear that he may not wake up. Usually I would have some sort of response by now."

McGonagall shook her head and stepped a little closer to inspect James. "Have you told them any of this?" McGonagall asked looking back at us. We quickly looked away attempting to play it cool and act like we weren't totally listening.

"No, I didn't want to worry them. They all are very upset and scared and I didn't want to make it worse."

"I understand. Thank you Poppy." McGonagall patted Madame Pomfrey on her back and then turned to us. She solemnly approached us and said, "How are you doing?"

"Professor, we were wondering if one of us could stay with James," Remus asked.

"Mr. Lupin, you all may visit Mr. Potter whenever the designated visiting times are set. All students have to follow the rules, I cannot make exceptions for any of my students," McGonagall said.

"Please Professor," Blair said pleading with her. "We won't let this get in the way of our studies and we won't have to tell anyone. Please, we just want to be with James."

After McGonagall still didn't respond, Sirius stepped forward and threw an arm around McGonagall's shoulders. "Now, Minnie, you know that we are your favorite students and we know you secretly love us." Sirius flashed a big smile at McGonagall. What looked like a smile appeared on McGonagall's face.

"Alright, I will allow one of you to stay with Mr. Potter even after visiting times. But if you're out after hours you must inform me and you must check in with Madame Pomfrey," McGonagall said giving in to Sirius's charm.

"Oh Minnie, I knew we were your favorites," Sirius said giving Professor McGonagall a hug.

"Mr. Black, I must ask you to release me from this hug," McGonagall said sternly as Sirius released her. "Now if one of you would like to stay with Mr. Potter you may, but the rest of you need to return to your dormitories and get some sleep."

"Who wants to stay?" Alexa asked.

Blair stepped forward and said, "I'll stay; I'm really not very tired anyway."

Even though Blair said she was fine and not tired I could tell that she was indeed tired and she was an emotional wreck. "Blair, I think you could do with a bit of rest. We've had a long day and I think you should sleep," I suggested.

"Lyla, I'm fine. Besides, we've all had a long day and we all are tired, so it doesn't really matter who stays. I'm going to stay." I could tell by her tone that there would be no further discussion. I nodded my head and gave her a hug.

"Alright, good night, we'll come and check on you in the morning," I said.

Blair hugged me tighter and whispered, "Thank you."

The rest of you, come with me," McGonagall said. "Ms. Winchester, you must stay in the hospital wing all night. By no means are you permitted to leave, do you understand?" Blair nodded her head in agreement. "Very well, Poppy, I am allowing Ms. Winchester to stay if you are in agreement with this."

"That is fine with me Minerva. Ms. Winchester, come with me, I will get you a blanket," Madame Pomfrey said before going into her office to retrieve a blanket.

"Good night you guys, see you in the morning," Blair said waving goodbye.

We all said our goodbyes and then followed McGonagall back to Gryffindor Tower. We walked in silence partly because we were all worn out from the emotionally trying day but also because none of us really knew what to say. None of us had any answers and that was definitely something that I wasn't used to. I was used to knowing. I could answer nearly every question in my classes and if I couldn't, I could always find the answer in some book. There was no book for this, nothing for me to reference. We had to just wait in oblivion, and that was the worst part, not knowing.

When we reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, McGonagall spoke the password, "Snapdragon." The painting slowly swung open revealing the portrait hole that led to the common room that undoubtedly deserted given the late hour. With everything that had happened none of us had even realized the several hours that had passed by. "Now, I advise you all to get a good night's rest. While I know that this is hard on all of you, I find that often the best thing to do is to return back to your normal routine and go about things as usual. As I'm sure you well know, Mr. Potter is being given great care and you have nothing to worry about, but if you should need to talk to anyone, you may come to me."

"Thank you Professor," Alexa said gratefully after McGonagall finished her spiel.

"Yes, well, good night," McGonagall replied turning from us and disappearing down the dark seemingly never ending corridor.

After ushering through the portrait hole we all just took up residence on the nearest couches instead of going up to our dorms. Remus and I sat down on a couch and Alexa sat in one of the large leather chairs with Sirius at her feet. "What a long day," Sirius mumbled rubbing his eyes and then taking Alexa's hands and wrapping them around him.

"It all just happened so fast. I don't even know how it happened," Alexa said. "One minute James was up in the air and the next he was plummeting toward the ground."

"Yeah, what exactly happened Pads?" Remus asked a curious look on his face.

"I don't even know. I had just deflected a bludger away as James was yelling at Caradoc and then I turned to watch Carry catch the snitch and then when I turned back to go celebrate with James he was on the ground," Sirius explained trying to make sense of all of it in his mind.

This was the first time that I had really thought about it since it happened, and there was something about it that perplexed me and just didn't sit right. "It's not like James to just fall off his broom; he's too fit a flyer to do that. There had to have been something to knock him off," I said just thinking out loud.

We all sat there for a moment wracking our brains for any clue as to what happened, but nothing came. "I'll talk to the team tomorrow to see if any of them noticed anything," Sirius said.

"Well, I think we should take McGonagall's advice and get some rest. Even though tomorrow's Sunday and there's not a lot to do, I'm sure we'll be spending quite a bit of time with James," Remus suggested getting up from the couch. "We also need to get out of these clothes." He grabbed my hand and pulled me up off of the very comfortable couch.

"Remus is right, come on Alex, let's go to bed," I said beckoning Alexa to follow me. Alexa and Sirius sluggishly moved from their spots and then we all suddenly were over come with tiredness as we neared the steps leading up to our respective dormitories.

Alexa and I climbed the stairs to our dorm with no hurry or purpose. After we changed out of the clothes that we had been in all day and slipped into some more comfortable clothes we reconvened on my bed. We leaned back on my huge fluffy pillows and let out twin sighs. We both just sat there motionless staring up at the ceiling. "How you doing sis?" Alexa asked finally breaking the silence.

"Pretty good, how about you?" I asked her back.

"I'm scared," she simply replied.

"Me too," I said. "Me too." We linked our arms together and just sat there; sharing every feeling we were feeling with each other without speaking a word. After what seemed like an hour slipped by, we drew my bed curtains and got beneath the warm covers of my bed just like we had when we were little and one of us had had a bad dream. Except this time, that nightmare was real and there was no waking up from it.

* * *

_Alexa's Point of View_

When I woke up the next morning, it was to Lyla rummaging through her drawers at a frantic pace. I closed my eyes and waited for Blair to throw a pillow, the alarm clock, anything at my sister to get her to shut up. The assault never came though and as I rolled onto my side; I realized that the smell from the pillow I was laying on was Lyla's perfume. I sat up in what I now knew to be Lyla's bed and looked over at my sister.

She was standing on one foot presumably looking for her other sock and Blair's bed hadn't even been slept on when I looked over. That's when yesterday came back in full force. James; the Quidditch match; the hospital wing. "Lyla?" I asked and she finally realized I was awake when she looked over and sent me an understanding smile.

"It's not a nightmare," She told me while pulling out her other striped sock and putting it on her bare foot. Finally shoving her stocking feet into her trainers, she came over and started to pull a brush through her mussed hair. Jumping from the bed and over to my dresser, I pulled out a pair of sweat pants and a grey sweatshirt before going into the bathroom and washing my face.

When I came out of the bathroom, Lyla was waiting for me next to her now made-up bed. Going over to the mirror I decided that my hair was a lost cause and I threw it up in a quick bun while shoving my own feet in my boots. "Let's go find the guys," I said and after grabbing my wand and shoving it in my pocket, we left the room. As we were walking down the stairs, we saw Remus sitting at the edge of the boy's stairs.

He stood as we approached and wrapped Lyla's hand in his own while pointing me towards the stairs. "Sirius needs your help with something, Alex. He won't come down stairs." I rolled my eyes and left Remus and Lyla to go on without us to the hospital wing while I made my way up the stairs to the sixth year dormitories. As I neared the door, I saw Sirius standing in the door way and conversing with someone or something.

"Sirius, if this is some kind of ploy to get me to sleep with you I'm going to have to kindly refuse." Turning towards me, Sirius rolled his eyes and held up Captain Awesome. I couldn't help but make a joke. "If the Captain is joining us though, I may have to reconsider." With raised eyebrows Sirius thrust Captain Awesome towards me and then tugged me towards the stairs while shutting the door to his room all in one motion.

"I know that that fantasy will be on your mind for the rest of the day, Alex, but I actually wanted to bring him to James." At my 'aw' noise, he tried to remain tough especially since we had reached the common room, which was packed due to the late hour. "And I can't carry him around because that would make me look like a prick."

Pushing Sirius with my hip, I said nothing as we made our way out of the common room whilst dodging questions from all of James's fans that were either legitimately concerned about him or just in need of the newest gossip. When we were out of the common room, it was obvious that we were going nowhere fast because the corridors were extremely crowded. "What is the deal?" I asked and Sirius shrugged while steering me over towards one of the many paintings adorning the walls.

He maneuvered the painting aside, revealing a suspicious looking hallway. "Stop being a baby, Alexa. Man up and get inside that tunnel." Sirius said in a joking manner while keeping a steady hand on my back and 'urging' me forward. I hesitated then stuck Captain Awesome out in front of me like he was going to save me or something. "For Merlin's sake," Sirius muttered and then he lit his wand and pulled me along behind him.

"You don't have to be so mean," I muttered from behind him and when he stopped I squeezed the bear closer to my chest while breathing in what I had become accustomed to realizing was Sirius' shampoo.

"I'm sorry, Alexa, it's just that James is laying in the hospital up there and I feel like I have something to do with it." Allowing Sirius to wrap his arms around me in a hug, I let my forehead rest against his chest, listening to his heart beat through the thin material of his shirt.

When we started moving again, it was at a faster pace and this time we moved with a purpose. "It wasn't your fault, Sirius. You were doing your job at your end of the field so you shouldn't feel bad. James wouldn't want you to go soft on him now. Especially since Gryffindor won and only has to play Hufflepuff and Slytherin again to get into the cup match."

Sirius smiled down at me and in the slight light of his wand his teeth glowed bright white. "You really have no idea who we play or when do you?" He asked and I smiled again, knowing that I had succeeded in making him smile even if I didn't know a millimeters worth of information on Quidditch. "Come on; the entrance is just around this corner."

We came up to a blank wall and at my skeptic look, Sirius waved his wand using some sort of spell that I couldn't comprehend and a slight outline appeared. After a moment, the outline solidified into a door that we stepped through to enter into the back of the store room. All around us, the smell of medicinal disinfectant seeped through the air and I gagged when I ran into a shelf full of vials. I made sure nothing got on me or the teddy bear before I followed Sirius out of the room and into the hospital wing.

As we appeared in the room, I noticed that Blair was sleeping somewhat awkwardly in a wing backed waiting chair while Remus chatted quietly to Madame Pomfrey. Making my way over to where Lyla sat on James's bed, I put Captain Awesome in James's arms while laughing slightly at the sight. "I never thought I'd see James Potter ever look this vulnerable. Not even in his sleep. The teddy bear really adds to it though." Lyla said as we seared the vision into our minds.

"Just because he's passed out with a bear doesn't mean he's vulnerable." Sirius said, coming up behind us and looking helpless before his best friend. He reached out and smoothed down the end of the covers before catching himself and folding his arms across his chest. "Anyways, Captain Awesome is a living creature with a soul."

"Of course he is, Sirius. No one said that he wasn't very special to us all." Remus consoled as he came up behind Sirius and looked down at James. The turmoil playing on his face was enough to make a care bear cry. "I feel so helpless." He voiced aloud; unlike Sirius, Remus felt best when he could actually express some sort of emotion. Even if it was said in a calculated and perfectly composed voice.

Lyla stood and went to stand next to her boyfriend. "What did Pomfrey have to say about him? Is he any closer to waking up than he was last night?" I asked Remus while trying not to let the dread that something could really be wrong seep into my mind again. It was silent for a moment as we all watched James for any sort of movement.

"It's the same as he was last night," Remus said while giving up on just standing around and sitting on one of the empty beds next to where we all stood. Eventually we joined him on the mattress. "She did say that she'd never seen a more dedicated girlfriend in all her years." He motioned towards where Blair had her head resting on the mattress next to James's prone body. I looked up to Lyla who was looking back at me with wide eyes.

Sirius, noticing the quiet, looked back and forth between James and Blair and then Lyla and I. "You know something!" He accessed in a louder than needed tone. I put a hand over his mouth as Madame Pomfrey looked up from her table at the front of the hospital wing. "You two know something about this ongoing attraction that neither is willing to talk about." He said around my fingers.

I looked at Lyla who was continuing with her silent routine. Of course, I couldn't keep it up. "I'm pretty sure that Blair still has extremely strong feelings for James." I put my hands over my mouth after I said it and then looked over at the girl in question to make sure she was still in la la land. Sirius looked at me in triumph before shoving Remus a little.

Remus, I noticed, also looked more than a little smug. "Wait a second," Lyla said, "You two know what's going on too. I can't believe you were just going to go on with this little charade." Sirius looked around then rolled his eyes and motioned that we all lean in. After we had, he took the extra precaution of putting a muffling charm on the curtains that surrounded us. Remus then pulled the curtains shut for extra protection while rolling his eyes at Sirius.

"What we know is pretty much classified information and the only reason we are telling you two is because you have let us become privy to the fact that young Blair still feels for James." Remus began to tell us. Sirius rolled his eyes and began to make weird facial movements. I hit him. "As Sirius feels the need to point out, it has come to our attention that James still loves Blair."

"Which we know because of the fact that her name has been said sometimes during the night when we're all asleep." Sirius raised his eyebrows up and down in a lewd gesture which made Lyla and I practically squirm away from him in horror. It was actually pretty funny though if I didn't think about the fact that it was James he was talking about.

A thought struck my mind when Remus began to laugh at his friend. "And how would you know what James has been up to in the middle of the night?" Sirius turned towards me with a maniacal grin on his face. "Never mind, I just want to forget about the fact that I even asked that question." I blushed cherry red before Lyla saved me from all my misery.

"Sirius is just one of those people that wake up sporadically through the night because he has nightmares of James leaving him for another person. There's nothing for you to freak out about; except for the fact that your boyfriend may be in love with James also." Lyla sent Sirius a sickly sweet smile and as Sirius made his way to rebuttal, Remus stepped in as was his forte.

"Anyways, before we get into an all out war that will cause us to leave the hospital wing, let's focus on the finer points of why we're muffled behind these curtains. James likes Blair; Blair likes James; they love each other but are stuck in this rut and can't be together? That's completely ridiculous if you ask me." I put my elbows on my crossed legs and then thought about what Remus had said.

"Well both of them don't want to be the first to admit their feelings incase they aren't reciprocated." Sirius said while leaning back on his elbows and stretching his long legs out between Lyla and Remus.

Lyla rolled her eyes at the obvious statement and donned her planning face. "Let's think logically for a moment. Say we lock them in a room together and force them to confess their feelings for each other. They might hate us but in the end they would thank us when they have babies together."

"But then there's always the chance that neither will actually say it and will find a way out. James is a cheeky bastard like that, you know?" I said while nudging Remus in the side. "What would you do, Lupin?"

Remus peeked his head through the curtains and took a look at Blair's sleeping form. Then, with a hopeful glance, he looked towards James who was still lying still. "I think that the best chance we have at getting them back together is to force it to happen."

"I like where this is going, Remus. Perhaps if we planted the seeds of the idea in each of the respective person's mind then eventually that idea would evolve into a full out attraction." Sirius mused while nodding his head and sitting up straight while folding his legs.

"They already like each other," I pointed out and Sirius shushed me while rolling back his shoulders as if he was getting ready to run a marathon. "Does no one else find anything wrong with his plan?" Remus looked like he was on board so I turned towards my saving grace.

Lyla looked from Sirius to me and shrugged. "He actually has a good point. Sure some of our plans never go through and some blow up miserably in our faces, but usually the plans that involve one of his plans actually work." I gaped at my sister, my own flesh and blood, and then looked towards the triumphant Sirius.

"How much are you bribing her to say these blasphemous things? Are you plying her with best friend hugs? I thought we talked about this before." Rolling his eyes, Sirius just turned away from me whilst neither denying nor confirming anything that I had just said. "I'm really hurt, you guys. But I'll go along with your plan to get...Blair!"

Everyone whipped around as the curtains were pulled open and Blair appeared in front of us. Even though she had spent the night in a hospital wing, sleeping on a hard backed chair, Blair still looked like she had just gotten the best sleep of her life. She looked around at all of us sitting on the hospital bed and then quirked an eyebrow.

"Sirius, you have your plotting face on. What's going on you guys?" I looked to Sirius who, as always, was quick on his feet.

"Actually, you look beautiful as always today, Ms. Winchester. I have no idea what you're talking about when you say my plotting face either. This is just the face my beautiful bone structure forms." Sirius smiled at Blair before hoping out of bed. Forgetting that my hand was in his, I face planted onto the bed and basically ate sheets.

"You totally suck." I said as the rest of my friends filed off the bed. When I got back up, Blair was sitting back in her seat watching James with such a strict face that I wondered if she wasn't going to be a full-time caretaker when she got older. "Have you guys even heard anything about how James is?" Blair asked as we all gathered around. At that point, Madame Pomfrey came out of the woodwork and shuffled us out of the way as she poked and prodded James with all manner of professional looking medical supplies.

Sirius wrapped an arm around my shoulder, leaning down to whisper in my ear as Blair questioned Pomfrey with quick precision. "When James wakes up, you and I are going to go on the offensive and put some hot thoughts of Blair in his mind." I looked up at him and sent him a quick smile. "You know that if you have anything to add that would be great."

Leaning in towards him, I acted like I was just being a happy little girlfriend. "If you are implying that I will be talking about my best friend in that way just for the sake of James's image and your sick mind, I'll have to make sure that you won't be able to get pleasure in that way for a long time." Giving him a swift pat on the stomach, that may have _slightly_ knocked the wind out of him; I leaned in towards him and laughed.

"Duly noted." Sirius nodded while pinching me on the arm. I smiled sweetly while he rolled his eyes and ruffled my hair. "Well, thanks for everything Poppy! We know that our boy is in good hands. Now, Blair if you would." He gestured towards the door as Madame Pomfrey walked away from James muttering to herself and writing in the air with her wand.

Blair looked at Sirius like he was crazy. "I can't leave him, Sirius. What if he wakes up and no one is here to see him?" She folded her hands and wrung them out, then stopped and clenched her hands to her side.

"He'll be fine, Blair. We were just going to pop down to the great hall and get something to eat really quickly." Lyla said as she took Blair's hand and led her towards the door. Blair took a deep breath, looked towards her 'patient' and then followed us out of the door. The mad house that appeared outside of the hospital wing doors made us all step back. "I guess James has more than a few admirers."

"Screw 'em all," Sirius said while standing up tall and basically clearing a path with his presence. "Let's get some lunch."

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_Lyla's Point of View_

"Who do all these people think they are?" Sirius asked bitterly, a certain jealous anger stirring behind his eyes.

"Sirius, they're all just concerned about James too," Alexa said trying to calm Sirius as we made our way through the seemingly growing crowd that blocked the entrance to the hospital wing.

"Rubbish! They are all posers! They don't even know James; I don't even know half of them," Sirius spat getting extremely protective of James and their friendship.

"Oh, come now Pads, you know who they are; plus a good portion of them are girls," Remus said in a joking manner.

Alexa's mouth dropped and smacked Remus on his arm and after Sirius agreed she hit him too. We all laughed, even Blair laughed. After the joke had passed, though, Blair's face slipped back into worry and sadness. We tried to get Blair to eat something but it was no use; she just wasn't hungry and you could tell that she was just buying her time until she could rush back to James's side. Wanting to give Blair a break, Remus and I offered to sit with James for today. But, Blair being who she is said that she would love for us to come and sit with her and James. Finally, we all just decided to spend the day in the hospital wing keeping vigilance over our dear friend.

After making our way through the hordes of people, we finally were safe behind the large doors of the hospital wing where everything was quiet. James was still motionless in his bed showing no sign of change since the last time I saw him. As we brought several chairs up to his bed I just wished that he would wake up. Several vases of flowers and many boxes of treats were positioned on his bedside tables along side Captain Awesome who was with James even when we couldn't.

We took our seats and anticipated the long day we had in front of us. Sitting next to me, Remus took my hand in his and gave me a smile. Feeling the burden of silence, Sirius spoke. "Blair, did you happen to see what happened when James fell?"

Blair looked up from James to face us. "No, I didn't. I have been wracking my brain all night and I just can't come up with anything," Blair said. She shook her head as she thought for a moment. "I keep replaying the game over in my mind but it's almost like it goes fuzzy when it comes to that part." Sirius nodded his head sharing in her frustration and then cupped his jaw in his hand and put his thinking face on. "Does the rest of the team know anything?" Blair asked hopefully.

"We don't know," Remus said. "We were planning on talking to the team soon to see if they saw or noticed anything."

"I think they should also come in and see James. Madame Pomfrey really hasn't been letting in anybody except for us, but I think they will want to see him," Blair said shifting her gaze back to James.

"Lyla and I could go round up the team and bring them on by if Madame Pomfrey says it's okay," Remus offered.

Just as Remus said this, Madame Pomfrey came out from her office. "Ah, here she is now," Sirius said. "Poppy, how are we doing today?" he cheekily asked her.

With a smirk on her face and her eyes narrowed on Sirius she replied, "I am doing wonderful today Mr. Black. And how are all of you?"

"We are doing lovely, just lovely," Sirius said laying it on thick. "Listen, Poppy, we were thinking about bringing the team by. How does that sit with you?"

"That shouldn't be a problem. However, I do ask that they only stay for a short time and I must demand that you call me by my title Mr. Black; we must uphold a certain amount of professionalism," Madame Pomfrey said sternly to Sirius.

Sirius quickly got up from the rickety chair he was sitting in and took Madame Pomfrey's hands, a sincere look on his face. "Oh, my lady, don't worry, I'm all about professionalism," Sirius said with a wink. Madame Pomfrey rolled her eyes, pulled her hands away and then turned to return to her office.

Sirius returned to his seat and Alexa just looked at him with a strange face. "You are bad," she said laughing.

Sirius looked utterly shocked. "I have no idea what you speak of, I am goodness reincarnated," he said with a boyish grin.

"Hah! You are unbelievable," Alexa said back. Sirius grabbed Alexa's hand and placed a kiss on the top of it.

"Don't worry, you are the girl for me," Sirius said in a husky tone. "Although, Poppy's got a little something." Alexa quickly snapped her hand away from Sirius and started to list the number of things that were wrong with the statement he just made. Sirius leaned over in an attempt to kiss Alexa but she quickly leaned away evading his lips. After much struggle, Sirius managed to get a kiss on Alexa's cheek.

Alexa swiftly took her hand and rubbed the place on her red cheek where his lips had touched. "I rubbed it off," she said childishly, sticking her tongue out at him.

Sirius feeling the burn of her actions, he retaliated by saying, "Hey, Alexa, why don't you stop fooling around so we can get some work done." Alexa went to rebuttal, but she was quickly cut off by Sirius, "Remus, would you and Lyla mind getting the team?"

"Not at all," Remus said, laughing at his friend and my sister. He stood up from his seat and extended his hand to me. He pulled me up and we made our way to the door. As we slipped through the doors of the hospital wing, the crowd in the corridor had dwindled significantly and there was much more room to maneuver. Remus slung his arm around my shoulders and pulled me close as we headed down the corridor toward Gryffindor tower. "How're you holding up?" he asked rubbing my shoulder.

I wrapped my arms around his waist and held him. "I'm doing okay I guess, just worried. How are you?" I asked him back. I felt Remus let out a deep breath as we walked and his silence caught my attention. "What's wrong?" I asked looking up at him.

"This whole thing is just eating me up inside," Remus said. "I should have seen what happened. I should have seen it so I could have warned James."

I stopped walking, holding Remus back with me. "Remus, none of this is your fault. There is nothing you could have done to prevent this," I said, hating how Remus was feeling.

"I should have seen it coming. I had the perfect view from the announcer's booth; you can see the whole field. It's my job to watch the game and I missed it," Remus shook his head in shame.

I stepped up close to him and wrapped my arms around him. He squeezed me tighter as if he was afraid I would disappear. "James wouldn't want you to be like this. You are not at fault here, we all know that. The only person blaming you is you."

"I know. It's just, what if he doesn't wake up? What if he never comes back from this?" Remus frantically asked. Remus didn't act like this often, and to see him like this was very different, it even made me a little scared. He was always so put together, always remaining calm; but this thing had torn him apart. If Remus could barely keep it together, how were any of the rest of us supposed to?

"Stop," I said firmly pulling away from him. I took his face in my hands and forced him to concentrate on me. "We cannot think like that. We just can't, okay? James has never given up on you or any of us, he always believes in us. So, now it's our turn, now we have to believe in him; believe he will wake up, believe he'll be fine. We can't give up. Promise me you won't give up on him Remus."

Remus reached up and slowly brought my hands down from his face and held them. "I promise," he said softly. He pulled me into a hug. "I love you."

"I love you too," I said into his chest. "Come on, we need to get the team." He released me from his strong hold and we continued on our journey to find the team.

When we got to the common room, luckily most of the team was already in there. I quickly sent Marlene and Thomas to go get the remaining team members, Caradoc being one of them. If anybody saw anything, Caradoc would be the guy. He was the closest to James and he had been talking, or rather yelling, with James before he fell. After the whole team was gathered, we all headed on the trek back to the hospital wing.

"How is James?" Carry Clark asked. "I tried stopping by earlier today to see him, but Madame Pomfrey wasn't allowing anyone in."

"Yeah, she's kind of got the wing on lock down, there were just way too many people out in front the hospital wing," I explained. Carry shook her head understandingly. "James is doing pretty well though, I guess. He still isn't conscious but his bones are healing."

"That's good. It was a particularly nasty fall, it's amazing he's not worse off," she said.

"Did you see what happened Carry?" I asked hoping we could finally get some concrete answers.

"Well, no, not exactly," she said sadly seeing the disappointment in my eyes. "I caught the snitch and when I circled back around to meet the rest of the team, James was about to hit the ground. It was so odd; I don't think any of us really even realized what had happened." Although there was yet another person who knew nothing, I wasn't too discouraged because Carry was a bit preoccupied with catching the snitch and all.

Back in the hospital wing there still was no improvement in James, but I immediately noticed a significant difference in Blair. She was laughing, smiling and didn't have her eyes glued to our stoic friend. I followed her eye-line to see what was leaving Blair in stitches of laughter and my sister shaking her head and hiding her face in embarrassment. When my eyes settled in the middle of the room, I immediately threw my hand up to my mouth to try to camouflage my blatant laughing. There, smack dab in the center of the room were Sirius and an enchanted Captain Awesome doing a synchronized dance that was awash with suggestive, and frankly blush worthy, moves; there was even music playing softly in the background. I honestly couldn't decide if I was more disturbed by Sirius dancing like that or the fact that Captain Awesome, a child's plaything, was dancing like that; but I couldn't deny that it was pretty hilarious.

As I looked back to make sure everybody else was watching this, I saw Remus roll his eyes and take residence in the seat he had occupied earlier. I quickly rushed over to the chair next to him, making sure never to take my eyes off the dance before me and leaned in toward Remus, "Are you seeing this?" Remus nodded with a smirk and just shook his head. While Sirius and Captain Awesome were doing some sort of convulsive zombie walk thing, I looked over at Alexa who was muttering the words 'Oh my God' to herself. She looked over, and after seeing the whole Quidditch eating up her boyfriend's display of dancing merit, she mouthed to me, "Kill me." I just laughed and turned back to Sirius.

Sirius and his bear did a quick spin move and then the music abruptly ended as the finished in a bow. The room was dead silent for a moment and then suddenly erupted with cheers and applause, as well as a bit of laughing.

Sirius came up from his bow with a pleased smile on his face and breathing heavily. He quickly made Captain Awesome jump up into his arms and removed the enchantment Awesome had been under. Basking in the praise and attention he was receiving, Sirius came over to where we were sitting, returned Captain Awesome to his perch beside James and then fell tiredly into his chair next to Alexa. "You embarrass me to no end," Alexa muttered to Sirius, still hiding her face in shame.

Sirius looked baffled at Alexa. He looked like someone had just ripped his heart out. "Sirius," I said, hoping to lift his spirits and ego, although it really didn't need it, back up, "I thought it was phenomenal."

His face became cocky again; he stuck his tongue out at Alexa, and then turned to me with a sweet smile. "Thank you, Lyla," he said angelically. Turning back to Alexa he said in a harsher tone, "And that is why she is my best friend."

The rest of the audience gathered around James's bed as Remus said, "So Pads, you decided to unveil it?"

"Well, Moony, Awesome said he wanted to do it, you know, for James. I tried to talk him out of it but he said he was going to do it with or without me; and you know I had to back up my boy," Sirius said in all seriousness to Remus. "He is nothing without me and I am nothing without him." Alexa let out an embarrassed noise. "And to have my teammates here to see it is just the icing on the cake."

"All I have to say is thank you for that," Thomas Jones said through remaining laughter.

"Oh, you're tremendously welcome Sir Thomas," Sirius said enthused by the praise.

The room got quiet as we all shifted our attention back to James. Sadness and worry floated through the air and infected all those around. "He doesn't look good at all," Marlene said a quiver in her voice. Utter silence blanketed us again, this time even worse.

"Um," Sirius said breaking the crippling silence, "We also asked you guys to come down to see if any of you saw anything the day of the game. Maybe if you saw what happened it could help James get better."

The team searched each other for answers but none of them had any. "Sirius, almost all of us were at the other end of the pitch. We only saw him falling, not what caused him to fall," Carry said.

Well this whole ordeal was an epic fail. How was it that nobody saw what caused James to plummet to the ground? It was so unlucky that the whole team happened to be at the other…. Wait a second; the whole team wasn't on the other end of the pitch. I

quickly turned in my chair to face the team and scanned the group for one person in particular. Caradoc was sitting in the very back, as far away as possible, looking off into space a blank look on his face. It was almost like he wasn't even there. He wasn't happy about coming down here in the first place and since he's been here he hadn't said a word.

"Caradoc," I said causing everyone to turn on Caradoc. "You were back where James was because you were playing keeper. Surely you saw something."

We all watched Caradoc, who barely even acknowledged that there was a question posed to him, anxiously. "I didn't see anything," Caradoc said listlessly. "I flew ahead of him to better see what was happening down at the other end."

"You left your post?" Sirius asked in an edgy voice.

"Yeah, I did. It's not like anybody was coming, they were all too wrapped up in the snitch grab," Caradoc said sending some attitude back at Sirius.

"That's no excuse, Caradoc," Sirius said angrily. "If you had just stayed where you were supposed to be, James may be fine or at least we would have known what happened!"

Caradoc furiously got up from the bed he was sitting on, "Oh, don't even give me this crap Sirius. I've had about enough of you!" Caradoc stepped closer causing Sirius to instinctively get up from his own chair and close the distance between the two of them. Remus quickly stood between the two boys and Alexa grabbed Sirius to restrain him.

"Sirius, don't," Alexa pleaded, "Please just walk away." Sirius, fire building behind his eyes, stared Caradoc down and then turned away to be calmed down by Alexa.

"Caradoc, I think you should leave," Remus said austerely. "Thomas, make sure Caradoc gets back to the common room; he needs to just cool down." Thomas nodded his head and got up to usher Caradoc out. As Thomas tried to guide him out, Caradoc snapped yet again. He stormed out of the hospital wing mutter shouting several things as he left, Thomas trailing after him.

The remaining members of the team were less than thrilled with their teammate's behavior. "He is such an ass," Marlene vented. "On behalf of James, I'll personally make sure he gets some sense knocked into him." She stood up from the chair she had occupied and the others followed. "Well, we'll get out of your hair. Let us know if anything changes." We said our goodbyes and I went to let the team out of the wing.

"What on earth was all that ruckus?" Madame Pomfrey asked rushing out of her office.

"Oh, sorry about that Madame Pomfrey, there was just a minor disagreement, but it's taken care of," I explained quickly hoping to put her at ease. "It won't happen again, I promise."

"You're right it won't; I cannot tolerate this sort of behavior in my wing," she said definitively.

"I understand, and again, we're sorry," I said again. She nodded her head and then returned back to her office. I turned back to the rest of the group who were back in the normal positions and looked as if they hadn't moved from them since we arrived. I too returned to my spot. "Caradoc knows something that he's not telling us," I said pointing out the elephant in the room.

"He is such a prat!" Sirius so wisely announced. "But, yes, I agree, he knows something."

"Well, we're just going to have to figure out what he knows," Alexa said like it was no big deal.

"And how exactly do you suggest we go about it? He's not exactly forthcoming. He's already pissed and if we approach him again, I can't even imagine what he would do," I told her.

"I wasn't planning on asking him, that's just foolish. I will just have to break out my stealth moves again and snoop it out," Alexa said acting like she was all that.

Blair piped in for the first time, "You honestly can't be serious Alexa." She raised her eyebrows at Alexa when Alexa gave her a questioning look.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Alex asked an underlying tone of hurt in her voice.

"I just meant that you don't have the best track record of being stealth," Blair said honestly.

"She's right Alex, you are impossibly clumsy and that usually causes your plans to fail," I added strengthening Blair's argument.

Alexa shook her head at our betrayal and said with vindication, "Whatever. I'll show you that Stealth is my middle name." Well, this should be interesting.

* * *

_Alexa's Point of View_

Who cares if stealth really isn't my middle name? I really don't; and trust me, it's not like if that word actually was my middle name that it would make a difference. If you want to be a smooth operator, a smooth criminal, if you would, then all you have to do is believe in yourself. So after the very strong and accusatory glances that were given to me in the Hospital Wing, I decided that it was time for me to show everyone just how good my detective skills are.

"Alexa, what are you really going to do? Caradoc is a class A observer, seeing as he has to be when out on the Quidditch pitch," Remus asked me as we walked out of the Hospital Wing later that afternoon. Putting my hand up to my chin in mock concentration, I smirked to myself.

"It's really very simple, young Remus. You see with Caradoc pretty much hating me already, he won't be paying me any attention which will make it easier for me to sneak around him and see who he's talking to, what he's doing, etc." I told my friend while Sirius laughed from beside me and Lyla rolled her eyes. Blair, of course, was with James who hadn't moved from his unmoving position. "Shut up, Sirius. You know the rules."

Sirius scoffed. "Those rules are stupid. I can make jokes about whomever I want to make jokes about, regardless if you are my girlfriend or not." He stuck his tongue out at me and I held up three fingers before pointing to the one in the middle. Walking ahead of him, I turned around to walk backwards and face my friends.

"Read between the lines, Black You'll be cowering at my awesome skills once I have mastered the extreme stealth that my family heritage has always pos--," The word possessed was a bit mangled, however, as I tripped over my own shoes and fell backwards into someone. "Sorry about that," I smiled a bit evilly I must say as I recognized the person. "Caradoc."

Turning back towards my friends, I sent a conspiratorial wink over my shoulder. Caradoc obviously didn't want to talk to us though and he turned and brushed pass me with a gruff, "Parker." I didn't take that as a brush off and thus kept talking. "Yes, well, it was excellent seeing you too! Well, I'll just be off. In the other direction, that you're not going in, because I'm not stalking you."

"Smooth," Lyla said while pulling me along. I stopped and drug my feet into the ground to keep from going anywhere and when she turned back to look at me I pointed to where Caradoc had just disappeared. "What the heck are you doing, Alexa? The common room is this way and as much as you like to hang around in dark corridors, I'm not really a fan." Rubbing my temples, my feet began to pull me in the opposite direction.

"Yes, well that's all very nice, but this is my chance so I will have to see you later." Waving bon au revoir, I took off after Caradoc, who luckily for me, wasn't using his long legs and was just moseying down the corridors. Stalling my walk to a crawl, my eyes focused on the boy I was trailing. Admittedly, I was actually doing a good job by staying in the shadows and keeping to the walls.

After following Caradoc around numerous bends and hallways, up stairs and through doors, he finally stopped outside of a set of doors. Slipping through them before I could get near enough to stop him, Caradoc was gone and I was left outside in the corridor. "Well, this sucks." I mused and was about to turn around when I heard noises from inside the room. It wasn't just Caradoc who was rendezvousing in this abandoned room.

Pressing my ear up against the door, I strained to hear anything that would help. Through the thick, solid door, I could hear only mumbles in different tenors. "Think, Alexa, think." I said to myself and that's when I noticed the completely random bench that was sitting outside of the doors. "Score." While it was totally random and I was a bit skeptical of the bench, I wandered over while trying to figure out a way to push it up further and look through the glass windows into the classroom.

With much exertion and cursing, I managed to move the bench a total of three inches before I remembered my wand. With a swish and flick, the bench was floating slightly above the ground and was ten times more moveable than before. After the bench hit the ground with a muffled thump, I stowed my wand behind my ear for quick access in case things got sticky, and then climbed aboard my makeshift stalking tool. The windows into the room were the kind that were like frosted glass and as my luck would have it, the windows opened in and not out.

Pushing the creaky slate just enough that I could see what was going on, I prayed that the noise wouldn't be heard over the loudness that was happening inside. With wide eyes, I looked on to see the Ravenclaw Quidditch team and Caradoc standing around while the Captain of the team stood before them all. "I'm not going to just sit around and watch Potter lay on a cot, Simmons." Caradoc had his arms crossed as he stood before a tall brunette boy.

Grant Simmons, the chaser and captain of Ravenclaw's Quidditch team stood before Caradoc, staring him down and leaning against an abandoned teacher's desk. "If you weren't willing to help us then why did you even come here? Listen, I'm not trying to ruin your little friendships or whatever it is that you have, but if you're going to finish this without visiting the Headmaster, then you'll have to listen to me." Grant pushed off the desk while walking over to one of the girls that if I remember correctly played seeker.

"I've had enough of all of this, Grant. If Dearborn here wants to rat you out then let him, I'm cold and I'm tired and I really just want to go back to the dorms." Tara Jackson was now my biggest threat as she walked towards the door. Freaking out, I tried to jump down from the bench while shutting the window quietly, but Grant stopped my freak out by putting a hand on Tara's shoulder.

"Listen, if I had known that what you guys were going to do was going to put Potter in a flipping coma then I never would have let that quaffle through the hoops. It was supposed to just distract from the snitch. Honestly, if your seeker can't catch a little gold ball then my work is done." My eyes widened as I stood on my tip toe's more to get a better look at what was going on. If the Quidditch team was closing in around Caradoc or if it was just my imagination, I wouldn't know seeing as Tara pretty much bitch slapped Caradoc for no reason.

"I could have caught that damned snitch if it wasn't for that little Clark girl pulling me back and Hooch refusing to foul your team." Tara said with a viciousness I didn't know the girl could possess. Pushing her dark hair from her eyes, she backed off and went to stand next to Grant.

Rubbing his hands over his face, Grant looked around at the rest of his silent team. "We just need to get this down right now. Which one of you actually sent that bludger towards Potter?" The quiet looks were sent around the half circle with accusations running wild in each person's eyes.

"Holy shit!" I whisper shouted as my eyes landed on the boy who had sent a bludger towards Thomas Jones early in the match. In my haste to see what was going on, my foot slipped on the edge of the bench and with a clang I fell from the blasted plank of wood, slamming the window and emitting a squeak as the bench clattered to the ground. "No, no, no." I muttered over and over again as I tried to right myself and the bench while remaining inconspicuous as if I had just passed by.

Just as I flopped onto the bench, the whole Ravenclaw team and Caradoc came out of the room to find me chilling outside their meeting area. "Alexa, what the hell are you doing here?" Caradoc asked stunned as I tried to look like I wasn't doing much of anything. And what was with everyone wanting to know what I was doing at a place or why I was there? I go to school here too!

"You know, just taking in the air. Not spying of anything, but if I had been the stealth I would have applied would have been great." Looking down at my fingernails, the sighs that were emitted from above me caused me to clench my toes. Outwardly, I tried not to show any emotion.

When I looked back up, the team had circled around the spot I had taken on the bench and their captain was eyeing me in contempt. "You know, don't you? I can't believe that you followed Dearborn; I thought you two had broken up?" The question was aimed more at Caradoc than at me and I felt my eyes widen. They thought that I had just followed my boyfriend or that he had brought me here.

"So right!" I shouted while at the same time Caradoc said, "No way." I shot a glare over at Caradoc while standing from my spot on the bench and making my way towards the other end of the hallway. I had to get the heck out of dodge before they thought I was going to rat them out. Which I totally was going to do, but they didn't need to know that.

Right as I made my way to walk out, Grant stepped in front of me. "What did you hear?" I played dumb and shrugged my shoulder while he put a hand out to stop me from going anywhere. "Don't play stupid with me, Parker. You heard something and I'll be a Hufflepuff before I lose my badge because you want to play with the big boys."

"First of all, do you even hear yourself right now? It's just a Quidditch game for Merlin's sake. Really, it's not that big of a deal." I said while looking at this seventh year boy and rolling my eyes. "I don't exactly know which one of you put James in the hospital wing, but I do know that if you just come forward you can't possibly be in that much trouble. "

"We'll all be suspended. Especially Cameron since he's the one that hit the bludger." Tara said while stepping up to me too. "You can't just walk off and do your little loyalty, Gryffindor pride thing. If we go down then we're going to take you too because as of right now you know something and are withholding information. And how would your precious Potter feel about that?"

"Better yet, how would Black feel?" A boy who stepped from the sea of faces asked me. I presumed this to be Cameron and with a roll of my eyes, I pushed out of Grant's hold.

"You guys take the whole 'Quidditch is our life' thing to an all new level." Muttering 'freaks' under my breath, I grabbed Caradoc's arm and drug him out of the circle after me. "Just tell somebody, because if it's not done by tomorrow I will." I said with one last shrug and then pulling Caradoc behind me I rounded the corner from where the team had met.

Caradoc opened his mouth to say something as an uproar opened up behind us. "Alexa, wait." He said and I ignored him as I soldiered on through the corridors. No, I didn't know where we were going, but I was pissed that these Quidditch obsessed people would put someone's life in danger just to win a match. And what was more, even though I was through with this boy, he was still being a complete idiot and hurting my friends. Was it not enough to get back at me with my ex-best friend that he had to betray his team too?

When Caradoc stopped moving and my arm practically wrenched from its socket, I stopped and turned around. Unleashing my full fury upon the blonde haired boy, I basically beat him senseless. "You have got to be freaking kidding me when you tell me that you went behind James' back, your own flipping _team_, and almost got him killed. You are freaking crazy and really, in all honesty, if you weren't a Gryffindor I would let Sirius and Remus have you right now."

"You don't know why I did this, Alexa. You can't begin to understand why I did this." Caradoc began to defend himself and I rolled my eyes while beginning to walk away. Halfway down the corridor, however, my anger got the best of me again.

"No, maybe I don't understand why you did it, but I do know that no matter what it was I would never betray someone who stood up for me. Someone who even when I was a total ass was nice to me and didn't let his best friend beat the shit out of me." Walking up to him, I pushed Caradoc in the chest with all the strength I had, pretty much disgusted that I ever dated this guy. "You are a freaking traitor, Dearborn, and you're going to be lucky if James doesn't kick you off the team for this. Have fun as a social pariah."

Stalking down the corridors, I made it back to the Common Room with a new record time. "Snapdragon." I told the Fat Lady with a purpose and instead of berating me like she usually would, she swung open and I walked through the opening without stopping. When I reached the doorway, I looked around to see where my friends were and saw them by the fireplace. Sirius, of course, saw me first and was happy to jump off the couch to see what he could do.

"What's going on, Al? What did you find out?" He asked and while I sat down in his vacant spot, I put my feet over the couch's arm. Sirius sat down next to me while Remus and Lyla gathered around.

"I know who it was and you guys aren't going to like it." I said while putting my hands over my eyes and then rubbing my sore shins. That bench really was solid.

"Wait a second," Lyla asked and I looked over to where she was sitting with her knees hugged to her chest. "You actually went stealth?"

"Oh, yeah," I nodded with a look of accomplishment on my face. "I went stealth."

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Baby Blue's Note: So, I hope that you guys enjoyed the chapter as much as we enjoyed writing it. It was a lot of fun to switch up point of views too. Anyways, put us on shout to tell us what you think about what we've been doing so far. You guys are the best and thanks for all of the last few reviews that were given for the last chapter.

As my co-author said before, peace.


	22. Smokin' Hot

Disclaimer: Sadly, the world that appears below is really just a figment of how we think the years that are missing in Rowling's story would have gone. Therefore, in this terribly sad case of events, we do not own anything you recognize. Tear.

Amulet Girl's Note: So epically sorry about the long wait, but over the past weeks we've had a psycho A.P. Biology test, seen Maroon 5 three hours away, got up for school the next day, and had a ridiculous amount of field trips. But it's up now, so no worries. We hope that you all enjoy the going ons of this chapter and don't forget to leave a sweet review!

* * *

_Smokin' Hot_

_Lyla's Point of View_

Wow, I really must buy Alexa a dictionary for her next birthday. She obviously is not clear on certain word's definitions. In Alexa's world, stealth means to attempt being sneaky, epically fail because you are betrayed by your own clumsiness, get discovered by the people you are trying to spy on and then just by a happy coincidence you find out everything you need to know. Let me tell you that is in absolutely no book that I have read.

"Yeah, but you see, I found out what we needed to know," Alexa argued, fully believing in her diluted definition.

"Alexa, you were by no means stealth," I said popping that shiny pristine bubble that surrounded my sister. "I admit you were stealth there for a while but as soon as they caught you being stealth; your stealth meter plummeted to zero." Remus and Sirius just looked at each other with smiles and shook their heads. It wasn't out of the ordinary for me and Alexa to debate over arbitrary things as this.

"Whatever, I don't even care," she retorted rolling her eyes, "I found out the information so it counts. I am stealth. I win. End of discussion."

"Can we address the more important subject here?" Sirius asked jumping into the conversation. "Caradoc is a lying, cheating, son of a bitch traitor who doesn't deserve to walk the same earth as James!" Sirius fumed growing angrier with ever word. "I will grind his bones into dust," Sirius gritted out as his hands tightened around the arm of the chair he was sitting in.

"Alright, simmer down," Alexa said patting Sirius on the chest. "Caradoc is going to get what he deserves, but promise me that it will not come in the form of violence." She gave Sirius a pointed stare and he quickly looked away pretending not to hear a word she said. He began to whistle nonchalantly in defiance of her words. "Sirius, you look at me right now and promise me," she said very forcefully.

Sirius reluctantly turned his head to face Alexa. She raised her eyebrows and motioned for him to speak. Sirius hesitated and looked as if it was bringing physical pain. "Alexa," Sirius whined, "He hurt my best mate." Alexa shook her head. "Just a punch?" he tried to compromise. Another no. "A slap?" No again. "I'll settle for a pinch," he pleaded. Alexa just continued to shake her head with impatience. Sirius let out a huff and then said, "Okay, fine, I promise."

Alexa still didn't look satisfied. "You promise what?" She clearly saw what Sirius was trying to do.

Sirius smiled a bit, "I promise not to be violent." Alexa narrowed her eyes and Sirius threw up his hands in surrender. "Fine! I promise not to be violent toward Caradoc Dearborn!"

Alexa eased into her seat, a look of pure victory on her face. "Lovely," she said cheekily looking over at Sirius.

"Man, what we do for our women, eh Moony?" Sirius said acting like it was some huge burden for him not to throw a few punches. Remus smiled and threw his arm around me pulling me closer on the couch. "So, if violence is out, what are our other options for bringing justice to that traitor and those cheating despicable Ravenclaws?"

"Well, Alexa told them she'd give them a few days to come clean, and if they don't, well, we will go to McGonagall. In the meantime we should keep a close eye on Caradoc and the Ravenclaw team; who knows if they are planning anything else now that they know Alexa knows," I offered. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. "I just can't believe the Ravenclaws would go that far too just win a match. And I know that Caradoc can bee a complete ass but this was all just too much,"

"I'm going to have to agree with Sirius on this one; Caradoc is such a lowlife," Remus said with a small hint of anger in his voice. "He is really starting to get on my nerves. He keeps ruining all of our lives and just when we think we get rid of him, he finds a way to creep back in and ruin everything all over again."

"I know that's right," Sirius said bitterly as Alexa played with his hair.

"Is Blair still with James?" Alexa asked suddenly realizing that one sixth of our group was missing.

"Yeah, when we left her she said that she was going to stay for a bit longer and she would maybe come back here," I explained. We heard the faint sound of the portrait hole swinging open. "That actually may be her now." However, much to our dismay, it was not Blair who drifted into our line of vision. Instead, it was Caradoc who walked in looking down at his feet not really looking where he was going. Probably feeling all the heated stares penetrating him, he finally looked up and saw all of us.

"Well, looks like I picked a bad time to come back to the common room," he said in a nasty tone. He turned to leave but stopped when Sirius swiftly got up from his spot on the ground and quickly closed the distance between them.

"Hey Dearborn, I know what you did, and I think you are a complete dick and the most un-loyal person I know," Sirius spat at Caradoc.

Caradoc slowly lifted his head to look Sirius in the eyes and with a condescending pause he said, "Black, does it look like I give a damn what you think?" Sirius stood there for a moment and then suddenly made a move for Caradoc. Luckily Remus was quick enough to grab Sirius and pull him back. Caradoc was smirking as Remus pushed Sirius away and then said, "That's right Lupin, just keep holding Black back." After Sirius was calmed enough to where he wouldn't try and attack again, Remus turned back to Caradoc.

"Caradoc, I think you should leave," Remus said as calmly as possible.

"This is the Gryffindor common room Lupin. Seeing as I am a Gryffindor, I can stay here as long as I damn well please," Caradoc retorted. Sirius scoffed.

Remus just stood there analyzing Caradoc. Caradoc was breathing heavily due to a mix of adrenaline and nervousness and was moving about in a very restless manner. "Caradoc, leave now before you do something that you are going to regret," Remus warned him again.

"Lupin, I am not going to leave, and there is nobody who can make me, especially not you," Caradoc replied in a highly condescending tone. Remus paused for a moment and then calmly went right up to Caradoc and I one swift move, punched that smirk right off Caradoc's face.

Caradoc fell to the ground from the force and Remus turned back to us shaking his hand, which had a bit of blood on it, in pain. Alexa and I, bewildered, got up from our seats and rushed over to the boys. Alexa looked over at Caradoc whose nose was bleeding and I moved in to inspect the hand that Remus was now gingerly cradling against his body. "What the hell was that?" Alexa asked with a look of shock on her face.

Sirius quickly jumped in, "I would just like to point out that I did not hit him. But, Moony, mate, that was brilliant."

Remus flinched in pain as I pressed on one of his fingers that appeared to be broken. After the look of pain subsided, his face then turned almost to an embarrassed look. "I am so sorry," he said to no one in particular but he was looking right at me. "I shouldn't have done that; I just don't know what came over me."

"Oh sweet Merlin! My nose!" Caradoc exclaimed through his hand that was cupped underneath his nose in an attempt to catch the blood seeping from his broken nose.

"Oh, hush up Caradoc," Alexa said coldly and then shooed him out of her mind.

Still tenderly holding Remus's hand I reached into my pocket and retrieved my wand. I waved it over his broken hand and from the look on Remus's face I could tell that they were healing. "Alexa, you and Sirius take Caradoc to the hospital wing and while you're there ask Madame Pomfrey for a sling," I instructed Alexa as I led Remus over to the nearest couch.

Alexa pouted her lips and said in a very whinny voice, "Do we have to?" I just nodded my head. "Can't we just leave him here to bleed; the pain will do him some good."

"Alex, you of all people should know how horrible it feels to have a broken nose," I said, quite ironically now that I think about it. Alexa rubbed her nose with a pained expression. "As much as I dislike Caradoc, he needs medical attention, and I'm not going to give it to him."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine," she said grabbing Sirius's hand and pulling him toward the portrait hole. "Come on you baby," she yelled back to Caradoc who slowly followed, blood trickling down to the floor as he walked.

After the three had exited the common room I sat down on the couch next to Remus and again took his hand and checked to see if the bones were healing. "How's your hand feel?" I asked.

"Much better," he responded, "It's still a bit sore though."

"Yeah, well, it probably will be quite sore for the next few days." I looked up from his hand and saw that his eyes were searching my face to see if they could detect how I was feeling.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," Remus said quietly. Remus hated being violent. He told me once that it reminded him of when he transformed and he didn't want to be a werewolf more than he had to be. And I could tell that he didn't want me to see any indication of how he was as a werewolf.

"Oh, don't worry about it," I said casually, leaning back against the couch. Remus smiled and did the same. Looking up at the ceiling I added, "Caradoc had it coming anyway." We sat there for a few moments in silence and then I turned my laid back head to look at Remus, "Plus, I must say, you looked pretty sexy when you got all angry and punched him." I waited for Remus to say something but he just rolled his head to the side and started to laugh a bit.

"I was pretty sexy, huh?" he asked through his smile.

"Definitely," I replied full heartedly. "If you would have only started punching people sooner, I wouldn't have had to pretend to like you all this time," I joked with him.

"Yeah, yeah, ha, very funny," he said nudging me with his left arm. I leaned my head on Remus's shoulder and he swung his unharmed arm around me, allowing me to snuggle my way in close. At that moment as we sat there together, everything was perfect. After a long time of quietness, Remus spoke, "Did I really look sexy?" I just laughed. I think Sirius has rubbed a little bit too much off on Remus.

* * *

"I still can't believe Remus punched somebody!" Alexa exclaimed as we relieved the events that had recently unfolded once again for Blair. Alexa hadn't really gotten over the fact that Remus actually hit someone; and it seemed that every time she retold the story it got more and more elaborate. "He just walked went up to him and… and, well, punched the crap out of him! It was all very exhilarating." Blair laughed at the retelling of the tale as the three of us relaxed in our dormitory while Remus and James did the same. Blair looked exhausted, and as she laid there on her bed I could see her eyelids fighting to stay open. I know she wanted to sleep, but I knew she wouldn't just in case something happened with James.

"How is old Caradoc?" I asked still laughing at my sister.

"Ah, who cares," Alexa said rolling her eyes and resting her head against my legs.

"His nose was bleeding pretty badly when Alexa and Sirius brought him in," Blair said answering my question. "Madame Pomfrey was able to fix him up right quick though. After she cleaned up the blood, you could see a really prominent bruise." Blair shifted to her side to gain more comfort and then continued, "I think he honestly deserved much worse, especially after what Alexa told me. They should really consider his expulsion. To put a boy's life in danger, it is just despicable," she ranted.

"He and Grant better confess to what they did soon or I will happily drop some names," Alexa said, sounding almost like she was hoping that she would get to be the one to solve the mystery of what happened to James and, just as importantly, to get Caradoc in trouble.

Suddenly the door to our dormitory bust open and, as if we didn't have enough drama already, in walked the pure definitions of drama. Standing in the doorway, looking as evil as ever, were Bree and Andy Ablo. We all slowly sat up and got tense and defensive as soon as we laid eyes on them. "Well, hey gang," Bree said in a much too friendly tone as she moved into the room Andy Ablo following behind her.

"Bree, what the hell are you doing here?" Alexa asked acting very territorial.

Bree stopped and turned to Alexa, "Alexa, you may have forgotten, but this is my room too." She continued walking to where her bed and belongings were.

"Yeah, but you have been living with Andy Ablo, and I for one have enjoyed your absence immensely and I hope this visit is not a foreshadowing of you moving back in," Alexa replied equally as snooty.

"Oh, no worries Alexa," Andy Ablo said as she took a seat on Bree's bed while Bree opened her wardrobe, "Bree will be staying with me indefinitely, but she just needed to return to retrieve some of her things."

Bree fished through her wardrobe grabbing various items and when she was done she closed the wardrobe and turned to face us. "Well, that should be all," Bree said perkily as she and Andy made there way toward the door, "It was great seeing you all again; Alexa, Lyla, Blair." Before she walked out of the door she stopped and turned back to us and looked at Blair. "Oh Blair, that reminds me, how is James?" Blair's eyes saddened and averted from Bree's stare. "It must be so hard seeing your boyfriend," she paused and put her hand up to her mouth to cover her sheepish grin. "Oh, excuse me, ex-boyfriend." The emphasis on the 'ex' caused Blair to look up anger on the brink in her eyes.

"Yes," Andy added, "It must be hard seeing your ex-boyfriend like that. Although, I'm surprised that Lily hasn't been up to see James more often."

"Why would Lily go to see James?" Blair asked defensively.

"Well, considering that these two are trying to get them together, you'd think she would put forth a little more effort to show that she cares," Bree responded. My eyes widened and I immediately looked to Alexa, who had no clue what the hell was going on. I then turned to Blair who was looking straight ahead at Bree and Andy, and she looked highly pissed. "I mean there little secret friendship has been going on for a while and there really hasn't been much progress. Maybe you guys should try a different approach," she added to us. Blair slowly turned her head to look at us; tears of anger were welling up in her eyes. Alexa and I were both shaking our heads. "Oh, you didn't know about that?" Bree asked faking her shock and surprise.

"Oh no, Bree," Andy said, "It seems that we have unintentionally caused some problems." Bree nodded her head; both of them had a devilish gleam in their eyes. "Oh well, the damage is done; we should probably just go."

"You're absolutely right Andy." And with that, they closed the door behind them and left, leaving us with a huge mess to clean up.

"Blair," I said reaching a hand out to touch her shoulder.

Blair hit my hand away and looked up; her tears had finally released themselves. "What the hell was that about?"

"Blair, everything they said was a lie, all of it. We do not want James and Lily to get together. You know that we support you and James one hundred percent," Alexa tried to convince her. Blair shook her head in disbelief.

"But why would they say that? Why would they lie?" she asked trying to make sense of all this. To be honest, even I was trying to understand.

"It's Andy and Bree, it's what they do," Alexa said. "They tell lies, Blair; they tell lies especially to hurt us." Blair just kept shaking her head looking unconvinced by Alexa's spiel. "Oh, Blair, you aren't actually going to believe what they said are you?"

"I don't know what to believe Alexa!" Blair said raising her voice. "I mean you guys did start talking to Lily at one point. I just don't know."

"Okay, look Blair," I said deciding to come clean about everything, "Alexa and I were planning something with Lily," Blair's eyes widened, "But it's not what Andy and Bree said. Lily offered to help us get you and James back together because she felt responsible for you guys breaking up. We called it off as soon as you and James got on better terms and when you forgave Lily."

"Why keep it from me?"

"Well, we weren't sure how you would react to it. We didn't want to upset you more than you already were," I explained.

After a few moments of silence Blair suddenly got up from her bed. "Get out," she said simply and calmly.

"Blair," Alexa tried to reason.

"Get out," she said a little more forcefully. "I need to be alone. Please get out." Alexa and I got up from the bed and slowly made our way to the door leading out of our dorm. At the door I stopped and quietly said, "We're sorry." We stepped out and closed the door behind us.

"Well, this sucks," Alexa said, stating the obvious. "Now what should we do?"

"Come on," I said leading her up to the boy's dormitory. I threw open the door to the sixth year boy's dormitory and found Remus, Sirius and Peter all on their beds in their sleeping attire.

"Um, hey," Sirius said confused as to why we were barging in at this hour. "And to what do we owe this lovely surprise?"

"Well, Blair kicked us out of our room," I told them.

"Wait, what happened?" Remus asked putting his book on his bedside table.

"Oh, long story short," Alexa said, "Bree and Andy came in, and being the colossal bitches that they are, told Blair something that wasn't true and now she's pissed at us and told us to leave. So, now we need a place to sleep." When she finished we both put huge smiles on our faces.

"No problem, you can stay in here," Sirius said, "This bed is built for two." He suggestively patted the area next to his shirtless body, motioning for Alexa to join him. I looked at Alexa, who I'm pretty sure was drooling, and pulled her over to James's bed.

"Actually, I think James's bed will do just fine," I said, not even giving Alexa a chance to respond. As we took up residence on James's bed the three boys came over to join us.

Remus sat at the foot of the bed with Peter on James's trunk and Sirius sided right up next to Alexa. Alexa looked down at Sirius's chest, swooned and then composed herself. "Okay, if we are going to make this work, you are going to have to put on a shirt," Alexa said forcing herself to look away. Sirius laughed as he went to retrieve a shirt. "Much better," Alexa breathed out, when Sirius returned.

"So what exactly did Bree and Andy say to make Blair so upset?" Remus asked.

"They told her some bull crap story about how Lyla and I were trying to get Lily and James together. But in reality we were trying to get Blair and James back together," Alexa said. "Unfortunately, Blaire, in her vulnerable state, didn't really know who to believe, so here we are."

"How are you going to get them back?" Sirius asked leaning back against the pillows.

"I don't know maybe we shouldn't even worry about getting them back. We need to just focus on getting Blair to believe us," I said.

Sirius's jaw dropped and he sat up abruptly. "Are you trying to tell me that you guys aren't going to get them back for what they did?" Sirius asked. "Frankly, I am disappointed; I clearly haven't rubbed off on you all as much as I thought."

"What's the use though?" I asked him. "It just seems that no matter what we do, they can't be destroyed. It just prompts them to come back at us and then we have to get them back and it's just one big circle. It has to stop somewhere."

"Yeah, it will stop when they are destroyed," Sirius said passionately. "Plus, I'm sure there is some way to destroy them while at the same time showing Blair that they are big fat liars."

"Fine, what do you suggest oh mighty prank master?" Alexa asked sarcastically.

"Well, first you need to get them in a situation where they are forced to tell the truth. Then, you clear up the whole think with Blair and then while you're at it ask them totally embarrassing questions that will knock them down a few notches," Sirius said.

"And how do you suppose we get them to tell the truth?" Alexa asked poking a huge hole in Sirius's plan. "It's not exactly like they are forthcoming people. I don't even think they know how to tell the truth anymore." Alexa was right, how were we going to get them to tell the truth. It is not going to be easy to pressure them to tell the truth but there has to be something. What makes people tell the truth?

And then it hit me, the solution to all our problems. "Veritisserum," I said quietly, still kind of just thinking to myself.

"What was that?" Alexa asked looking at me curiously.

"Veritisserum" I repeated louder for the whole group to hear. "That's what we can use; it will make them tell the truth."

Sirius stroked his jaw, "What is this veritisserum you speak of? It doesn't sound very familiar."

"Well, that's probably because you neither pay attention in class nor read any of the class reading," I pointed out to Sirius.

"Fair enough," Sirius said shrugging his shoulders. "Now, Remus, do we have any of this substance in our potions stash?"

"Um, no," Remus said.

"And why not? Have you heard of this stuff?" Sirius posed another question.

"Yeah I've heard of it, I actually do the assigned reading," he retorted.

"Well, why don't we have any?"

"For starters, it's nearly impossible to make and how was I supposed to get it from Slughorn?" Remus explained.

"Fine, I accept that," he said giving up on the debate. Sirius then turned to me, "Lyla, you're good at potions, can you make it?"

"Like Remus said, it's very difficult to make. There are some very precise directions and some rare ingredients, plus if you brew it wrong there can be very nasty repercussions; I don't think I would trust myself to make it."

"Gosh, what is wrong with you smart people, no self-confidence," Sirius said shaking his head.

"I may not be able to make it, but I think I know how to get some," I told him.

Sirius's head perked up with interest, "We're listening."

"Well, occasionally I will help Professor Slughorn in his classroom and he has had me take inventory of the supplies several times. I know for a fact that he has a small supply of veritisserum," I told them.

"Brilliant," Sirius said. "Now, how are we going to get it out of the storeroom?"

"We'll just have to wait for the opportune moment," Alexa said jumping in. "You could ask Professor Slughorn in class tomorrow if he would like you to do another inventory for him sometime soon." I shook my head and we all agreed that that sounded like a good plan. "In the meantime, we also need to try to talk to Blair; tomorrow morning at breakfast I think." I nodded my head again.

Sirius stood up from James bed and clapped his hands together. "Well, gang, not that this isn't fun and all, but it is Peter's bedtime and we all need our sleep for classes tomorrow." Peter's face turned red with embarrassment as he quickly turned away. The three boys headed for their respective beds as we turned down James's.

"Sirius, what are you talking about? You sleep in all of your classes," Alexa said as we buried ourselves underneath the covers.

"Oh, now that's not fair. I do not sleep in every class; some of them I don't even go to," Sirius responded. We all just shook our heads and rolled our eyes. "Now, Alexa, if you feel the urge in the middle of the night to switch beds, mine is available."

"Sirius, if you try anything, I will personally beat the crap out of you and revoke your best friend hug privileges," I told him with a smile on my face as he put his hand up to his heart as if I had just stabbed him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa; why am I the only one being warned here? Why isn't Alexa being warned? Or, better yet, why is Mr. Lupin over there, not receiving a threat from you?" he asked Alexa.

"Because I trust Remus," Alexa said plainly.

"What? And you don't trust me?" he asked as Remus flicked off the lights.

"Well, no," I said into the darkness.

"Oh, okay, that's fine, I see how it is," he said in a hurt tone. "No, you know what; I revoke your privileges for best friend hugs. Yeah, two can play that game."

I smiled to myself and said, "Okay, Sirius, that's fine. Good night." I closed my eyes and immersed myself into the silence.

Just as I was about to fall asleep, right on cue, Sirius said, "You know what, I think I acted a little harsh and I wasn't thinking straight; you still have your best friend hug privileges." I didn't respond, hoping that he would be quiet so I could sleep, but no such luck. "Come on, let's hug it out."

"Good night, Sirius," I said to him as I turned on my side to get more comfortable.

"Yeah, you're right, we'll take care of that in the morning," Sirius said rustling his covers as he finally got situated.

* * *

The next morning I woke up when I rolled over and didn't bump into my sister who had fallen asleep beside me. I stretched out shaking the stiffness out of my body and then just remained still underneath the warm protection the blanket was giving me. "Good morning," Remus whispered as he sat against the headboard of James bed. I snuggled up next to him and wrapped my arms around his waist so his body heat could add additional warmth.

"Hello," I said smiling, my eyes still half closed. I rubbed my eyes and then sat up a little more to look around the room. Peter was still sleeping soundly in his bed, the soft sound of snoring drifting from behind his curtains. I looked over to Sirius's bed and found it empty, the covers and sheets wildly strewn. "Where are Alexa and Sirius?" I asked.

"In the shower," Remus replied.

My eyes widened. "They're what!!" I shrieked. Poor Peter fell from his bed with a thud. He quickly popped up and looked around disoriented. "Sorry, Peter," I said sincerely hoping he was okay. Peter nodded his head and then quietly crept back into bed redrawing his curtains. "I'm going to kill them," I said angrily pointing at the bathroom door, which I noticed was closed and the faint sound of running water was coming forth.

Remus grabbed my arm as I went to kick someone's ass and stopped me. "Alexa's taking her shower in the girl's dorm." I calmed myself and then turned to see Remus smiling sheepishly back at me. I playfully punched him and then let my body go slack back on the bed. Remus wrapped me in his arms again. "You know I couldn't resist myself."

"Yeah, laugh it up," I told him. "But I don't think you realize how close I was to going in there and seeing your best friend naked," I reminded him, that shut his laughing up real quick.

"Who's naked?" Alexa asked as she came through the door and sat at the foot of the bed. Her hair was still wet from her shower and her perfect dark ringlets dripped water onto the bed.

"I almost walked in on your boyfriend in the shower," I told her.

"Ah, I see. Well, that does seem to be a trend amongst our group of friends," she joked. "Has he been in the shower this whole time?" Remus nodded. "I swear he's more of a girl than I am. I honestly think if no one stopped him he would take a three hour long shower."

"I think his personal best is four hours," Remus informed us. Alexa shook her head with wide eyes and mumbled something along the lines of "What a girl." Suddenly the door to the bathroom opened and a billow of steam filled the room. Sirius emerged with just a towel wrapped around his waist, still dripping with water. "Padfoot, really?" Remus asked.

Alexa's eyes widened again, this time for an entirely different reason. "Sorry, I forgot to grab a change of clothes," Sirius said getting water all over the floor. "I could have come out with no clothes on," he reminded us as he went to his dresser to retrieve some articles of clothing. He disappeared back into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. Alexa just sat there starring at the door.

"Alexa, snap out of it," I said to my dazed sister. She didn't respond in any way, shape, or form. "Hey, Alexa!"

"Um, yeah, what?" she said slowly shifting her gaze from the door to me. "Did you say something?" she asked with a smile on her face. She looked like a kid in a candy store. I shook my head.

I decided I would have a bit of fun. "Oh, nothing--, Sirius, please put on some pants," I said shielding my eyes from the door pretending that Sirius was there. Alexa excitedly whipped her head around and was quickly let down by the fact that there was no pantless boy in front of her. I began to laugh as she turned back with a scowl.

"Ha, ha," she said sticking her tongue out. "It's not funny," she said rubbing her neck, "I think I just gave myself whiplash." This only made me laugh even more, Remus also joined in my laughing and shameless ridicule. "Really though, I think I pulled something in my neck."

As Alexa continued to massage her neck, Sirius emerged once again from the bathroom, fully clothed this time. "And what are we laughing at?" Sirius asked me and Remus, sitting on the bed and placing a kiss on Alexa's cheek.

"Your girlfriend is thinking naughty thoughts," I informed him, a huge smile plastered on my face.

Sirius's eyebrows arched and he gave Alexa a look. "Well, you've caught my attention," he said seductively. "Care to let me in on these naughty thoughts?" he asked Alexa who was blushing as usual.

"Oh, I think you're already there, mate," Remus jested, causing him and me to be thrown into another fit of laughter. Alexa hid her face with her hands. Sirius threw his arm around Alexa and whispered something in her ear that caused her to quickly scoot off the bed.

"Okay, then. Not that I don't enjoy getting embarrassed to no end, but we should really get going. We need to get some breakfast before class," Alexa said backing up toward the door. Remus and Sirius got up to follow and they generously pulled me up off the bed.

Down in the Great Hall, Blair was nowhere to be seen. We assumed she was up with James like she usually was but it was hard to say seeing as we hadn't seen her since last night. Blair was really starting to worry me with the whole James thing and now adding the lies Bree and Andy told who knows how Blair was dealing. Blair wore her emotions on her sleeve and they were easily trampled on by others if they got too close. Alexa and I would just have to put things back to how they were.

After a hearty breakfast, we all donned our robes and collected our books for class. As we entered into the dungeon classroom I looked around anxiously for Blair. Blair was sitting at the table in the very back of the classroom looking tired and miserable, even more so than she has been. She either didn't see us come in or she purposely ignored us, but either way, she didn't acknowledge us at all. "Come on, let's just go sit up here," Alexa suggested after there was clearly no chance of sharing a table with Blair.

We made our way up to one of the stations near the front of the room and took our seats on the stools. Just as we pulled our books out of our bags, Slughorn appeared before us coming out of his office. "Good morning, bright minds!" Slughorn enthusiastically shouted. The class mumbled their various responses, but this in no way stifled Slughorn's eagerness. "Today, we will be making a very curious potion, the Draught of Living Death," he said in an eerie voice. "Now, turn to the next chapter in the book, follow the instructions very carefully, and get to it! If you need me I will be at my desk."

Alexa and I smiled as Slughorn traveled to his desk and plopped down in his oversized leather chair. I flipped through my book scanning for the page with the instructions for the potion. I quickly put my thumb on the page that I needed and opened the book open all the way. "Alright, let's get to it!" I said imitating Slughorn.

Alexa started laughing but when she caught a glimpse of Blair she quickly stopped. "Lyla, go ask Sluggy when you can come and do his inventory for him," she said remembering the task before us.

"Can't that wait till after class," I said not wanting to get behind on the assignment.

Alexa rolled her eyes, "First off, you are such a nerd, and second, no, this can not wait. Just go ask him real quick and while you're doing that I will go and get the supplies and ingredients."

"Fine," I said agreeing to her compromise. I set my book aside and slid off my seat as Alexa went to retrieve our needed supplies. I slowly approached Slughorn who was reading some sort of odd newspaper. When I got to the front of his desk, I stood there for a moment to wait for him to recognize me but his eyes remained glued to whatever he was reading. I cleared my throat and said, "Um, Professor?"

Slughorn shifted his eyes up and then put the paper down quickly removing his glasses, "Oh, Ms. Parker, hello dear, how are you?"

"I'm doing well Professor. How are you?" I asked.

"Not too bad; as well as an old chap like me can be I suppose," Slughorn said with a chortle. I joined in his laughter as sincerely as I could. "Now, what can I do for you, Ms. Parker?" he asked leaning back into the leather of his chair.

"Well, sir, I have some free time this week, and I was just going to see if you would like me to do the inventory in the supply room for you again," I offered, hoping the beaming smile on his face meant yes.

"That is very kind of you Ms. Parker, but there's no need for you to waste your free time to do silly things like that," he said to me. "You need to fill your time with fun things, enjoy your youth while you're still young!" He continued on about some story about when he was younger but I sort of just tuned it out. I'm sure I've already heard it at least six times anyway. When I noticed his story was coming to an end I jumped in.

"Oh, well, I don't mind one bit helping you out Professor," I pressed not wanting to take no for an answer.

"As much as I appreciate your kindness and generosity, there will be no need. I have to say Ms. Parker, you are a very unique student; you will go far," he said with a huge smile as he studied me. "Very far," he repeated to himself. "Now, if you ever need anything, you just let me know," he said returning to his excited jovial self. 'I need to get into your storeroom,' I said to myself.

I put a smile on my face and said, "Thank you, sir." I turned from Slughorn and made my way back to where Alexa was starring at the scattered items on the table quite perplexed.

"What'd he say?" Alexa asked as she leaned over her book to better read an instruction.

"He said he didn't need me to do anything and something about enjoying the young, or something, I don't know," I told her.

Alexa looked up from her text book and tapped her lips with her index finger. "Hmm.... Well, that's potentially problematic isn't it? What to do? What to do?" As she contemplated our next move she looked around the room. When her eyes landed on Slughorn once again buried in his reading she stopped. "Let's just take it now," she said with a smile.

"Are you high?" I asked her, seriously questioning her mental stability.

"I don't know, probably," she said excitedly. "All we do is just walk in and walk out, that simple."

"Oh, yeah, we'll just say 'Hey, Sluggy, I'm just going to take this veritisserum, but don't worry, I won't use it and I'll bring it back right away'." I said sarcastically.

"Well, I wasn't thinking that exactly but maybe something similar," she said. "Look, we'll make him think we're taking something different and then just take the veritisserum; he'll never know."

"Yeah, until he checks the inventory and sees that one of his vials is missing," I reminded her.

"Isn't that his own fault though for not having you make an updated inventory? He'll probably just think it's a mistake. Plus, he would never suspect you would take it, you're one of his favorites," Alexa said.

"I don't know," I said, feeling very uneasy about this whole scheme. It was too risky.

"Oh, come, on. Don't be a baby," Alexa berated me.

"What am I supposed to say we are going to get?" I asked.

"I don't know, just make something up," she said nonchalantly. "It'll be fine." I went to protest but she acted to quick. "Professor!" she called out. Slughorn looked up and over at us where Alexa was pointing at me.

"Yes, Ms. Parker?" he responded.

I gave Alexa a look and then turned back to Slughorn. "Um, may Alexa and I go to the storeroom to get some... to get some… some…," I blanked. Crap! For the life of me I could not thing of one ingredient that I could get, nothing came to mind. Slughorn was looking at me curiously with raised eyebrows. Alexa nudged me in the back and suddenly thoughts flooded my mind. "Some cockroach heads," I finally got out.

"But, that isn't one of the ingredients listed in your book," he said suspiciously.

"Yes, I know, but Alexa and I thought we would try this to see if it improves the strength of the potion," I quickly pulled out of nowhere.

Slughorn sat there still for a few moments and at that point I thought for sure he saw through my bullshit. But, by some miracle, he was oblivious. "Smashing!" he exclaimed with a bright smile. "I love the inventiveness girls! Grab whatever you need." He picked his paper back up and continued reading.

I turned to Alexa who had a smile on her face. "Well, that surprisingly went well. I didn't think it would actually work," she confessed. I shook my head as we headed over to the little room that housed all the supplies and ingredients you could ever need along with several bottled potions and elixirs. "Okay, I'll go in and get the veritisserum and you stand in the doorway to make sure no one comes."

"Why do I always have to be the lookout?" I whined as Alexa slipped into the room and I took my post at the door trying to look inconspicuous.

"Lyla, I thought we already cleared this up," she said annoyed. "I am stealth."

"But you don't even know what you're looking for and I could probably find it a lot faster than you could," I tried to convince her. I turned into the room to face Alexa who was squinting at the huge shelves of tiny vials and bottles.

Alexa relaxed her eyes, stood erect and then looked at me. She let out a huff; "See!" she said motioning toward me. "You can't even keep watch. You are leaving us open to all sorts of problems."

I just rolled my eyes as my sister returned to her search. "Please, it is not hard to keep watch," I said casually as I leaned against the opening into the room. Alexa looked over at me again, but this time her eyes were wide.

"Professor!" she said hastily. I jumped from my spot and turned in a panic. Naturally, I turned only to find nothing. I turned back to my giggling sister and stuck my tongue out at her. I silently turned my back to her and resumed my watchman position peering out at my classmates.

"Oh, come on Lyls, you know it had to be done," Alexa said still slightly laughing. Without turning to face her I just waved her off. She returned to scanning the shelf, mumbling the various labeled bottle that resided on the shelves.

Several moments passed and she still hadn't found the veritisserum. I leaned forward from my perch a bit to get a better look at Slughorn. His nose was still well rooted in his paper and he didn't even seem to notice that we were gone. Even though he seemed to be preoccupied, I didn't want to chance it too much. "Alexa, can we pick up the pace a bit please?" I asked impatiently.

"Give me a second," she replied just as frustrated. "Umm, I think I've found it," she said still in thought, "But, it seems to be a bit high up."

"Just use the stool," I suggested.

Alexa, being the stubborn person that she is, said, "Nah, I got this." Alexa grunted as she strained with each jump to reach the tiny bottle. Every time she failed, she got more and more frustrated and also determined.

"Alexa, use the stool," I said again, clearly seeing her anger building.

"I said I've got this," Alexa said sternly, eyeing the upper shelf she was striving to reach. I shook my head at my dear stubborn sister. "Okay," she said to herself. "One, two, three." I heard her push off the floor and then an accumulation of noises followed. Once I heard something bump the shelf I wheeled around to inspect it. Alexa fell to the floor with a thud and a yelp, a vial clenched in her hand. "Shit!" she screamed rather loudly. Following Alexa were several assorted vials. I ran over to Alexa as soon as they hit her. The bottles smashed and the contents were leaked onto Alexa's robes and skin. "I don't have this," Alexa said looking up at me.

"Are you okay?" I asked bending down next to my sister.

Alexa was writhing on the floor uncomfortably. She was rubbing and scratching her skin violently. "What the hell was in those bottles?" she asked moving her robes around.

"I don't know, why?" I asked trying to figure out what was wrong.

"My skin feels like it's on fire and it itches like there are a thousand bugs on me!" she said through gritted teeth.

"Well, that's not good," I said helping her up to her feet.

"You think?!" she asked angrily, but I knew it was just the pain talking. "My skin feels like it's falling off."

"Girls? Is everything okay in there?" we heard Slughorn question as we heard his footsteps draw near.

A wave of panic washed over me. "Um… yeah, Professor, everything is smashing," I said, which technically wasn't a lie.

"Smashing? Oh, yeah, everything is just peachy," Alexa said sarcastically. "Your skin isn't in flames."

"Hide the vial," I whispered quickly to Alexa. "And stop convulsing."

"Yeah, that's easier said than done," she said still rubbing her skin. "I am literally ablaze right now."

"Just try to act calm," I instructed.

"Girls," Professor Slughorn said as he came into view. "Alright in here?" he asked raising an eyebrow as we quickly composed ourselves.

"Like I said professor, everything's fine," I responded. Alexa whimpered behind me as she shifted uncomfortably.

"Ms. Parker, are you okay?" Slughorn asked leaning to the side to look past me at Alexa.

"Oh, yeah, she's fine," I jumped in. "She's just a bit disappointed, because we couldn't find any cockroach heads."

Slughorn looked utterly perplexed. "No cockroach heads you say? Well, now, that is hard to believe," he said moving toward one of the shelves. "I thought I always had some in stock."

"Well, I guess you were mistaken," I said stepping in between Slughorn and the shelves so he couldn't see. I was so going to get in trouble for this, I just had a feeling.

"Let's just have a look; I'm sure they are simply just misplaced." Slughorn went to step around me but I mirrored his step cutting him off once again. "Ms. Parker, step aside so I may have a look."

Crap. Dead end. The jig was up. I stood there for a moment hoping he would change his mind, but he just kept staring straight ahead. I lowered my head in defeat. Just as I was about to step aside, our saving grace arrived.

"James is awake!" Sirius exclaimed, bursting in through the archway. My head snapped up and Alexa and I eagerly looked at one another. "Well, come on, the both of you! He's awake!" Sirius repeated, a huge grin beaming on his face. Alexa and I looked to Slughorn for permission to leave and he nodded his head with a smile. Alexa and I quickly scurried out of the storeroom behind Sirius. Once back in the classroom, Alexa discreetly passed me the veritisserum, which I slipped into my robe pocket, and then we took off out of the classroom toward the hospital wing.

* * *

When Sirius, Alexa and I reached the hospital wing, I saw almost the same exact scene that I had seen every time I went to the hospital wing since James had gotten hurt. James was lying in his bed and Blair was sitting by his side. This all too familiar scene was different however. James was lying in his bed awake with a smile on a face and Blair was seated next to him sharing his smile, her hand gripping his. Alexa, who was still mildly convulsing in discomfort, and I followed Sirius to James's bed where Remus was sitting and conversing with his dear friend.

"James!" I exclaimed, filled with so much joy at seeing his face sparkle with such life. I flung my arms around James and held him in a much too tight hug.

"Lyls, it's so great to see you," he said returning my hug but with less intensity, giving his state. "It's been a while I hear. Have you been keeping these two in line?" he asked nodding his head in Remus and Sirius's direction. As I laughed, it got hitched in my throat. I nodded my head holding back my tears. I looked over at Blair whose tear stained cheeks were rosy and raised from her big bright smile.

"How are you?" I asked releasing him and taking a seat in a chair by his bed.

"I'm doing great," he said. "I don't remember anything really from before, and Madame Pomfrey brought me up to date on what I've missed while I've been asleep. I'm still a wee bit groggy and sore, but other than that, I'm just glad to see you guys." He smiled at Blair and gave her hand a squeeze.

"Well, it's good to have you back mate," Sirius said from behind me.

It's good to be back," James replied. Noticing that there was still one person who hadn't come over to greet him, James looked over at Alexa. Alexa was standing a few feet away from the bed and was rubbing a spot on her arm through her robes and shifting back and forth. "Alexa," James said, "Are you going to come and say hello?"

Alexa stopped rubbing and through her arms down, "I'm so hot."

I shook my head as the others shot her a confused look. "Well, I think it's safe to say that you haven't gotten much more modest since I last saw you," James said jokingly.

"No, really, I'm super hot," she said in frustration and uneasiness.

"Yeah, okay, you're smoking hot," James jested again.

"I don't think you understand me," Alexa said trying to explain herself. "I am on fire."

"Padfoot, what have you done to her? You've made her as conceded as you," James said.

"I think what Alexa is trying to say," I said hoping to shed some light on the situation, "Is that in potions today, she spilled a couple of mysterious potions on herself and now her skin feels like it's on fire and crawling with bugs." There was a consensus of "Ohs" as Alexa shook her head. "Sirius, will you please get Madame Pomfrey to sort her out?"

"Yeah, sure," Sirius responded as he walked over to Alexa. He put his arm around her and led her to Madame Pomfrey's office. "Don't worry, I think you're smoking hot," he told her as they walked away.

"So, did we win the match?" James asked in an attempt to piece together the time he's missed.

"Yeah, Carry caught the snitch," Remus informed him. "Brilliant," James mutter with a victorious smile on his face. "James, do you remember what happened when you fell?" Remus asked, just coming right out and saying what everyone was secretly dying to know.

James sat there for a moment in deep thought. He looked down at his blanket and shook his head disappointingly. "I don't remember how I fell. The last thing I remember is yelling at Caradoc because he missed a goal."

We all looked at one another uneasily, none of us wanting to break the bad news to James. "Um… James," Blair started, taking the initiative. "Caradoc didn't miss that goal; he let it go by." James shot a confused look at all of us. "He let it go by because he was trying to help the Ravenclaws win. He was trying to draw attention away from the snitch so the Ravenclaw seeker could get it."

"That son of a bitch!" James said angrily. "Why the hell was he doing that for? I'm going to kick his ass as soon as I can get up out of this bed."

"Easy there buddy," Sirius said with a smirk as he and Alexa, who had finally stopped convulsing and had a relieved look on her face, returned. "You just woke up from a coma; as much as I want to beat Caradoc senseless, I think it can wait until you get back into top physical condition."

"I just don't understand," James said quietly, more to himself than to anyone in particular. "Well, his little scheme obviously didn't work because we still caught the snitch and won."

"Yeah," Alexa announced, newly renewed to her former self and taking a chair, "That's just it. The original plan was for Caradoc to let them score so Jackson could swoop in during the commotion and get the snitch. But when Carry didn't get distracted and kept pursuing the snitch, they took a more drastic approach. Which is when you got hit; Cameron directed a bludger at you while you were berating Caradoc and then you fell."

"I swear to you, I will murder him!" James repeated angrily.

"Oh, come now, there will be plenty of time for that later," Alexa said rising from her chair. "Right now, I just want a proper hug." She stepped toward James with his arms wide open and James mirrored her gesture. They pulled each other into a hug. "I missed you," Alexa said quietly.

"It's good to see you back to normal," James said jokingly still in their embrace.

"You too," Alexa said. She released him from her hold and then sat back down in her chair.

"Where's old Wormtail?" James asked.

"Well, he wasn't in class this morning and I haven't seen him since breakfast," Remus said. "I'll go and check the common room; I know that he'll want to see you." Remus gave my hand that he was holding a squeeze and then turned to leave to search for Peter.

"And Alexa and I will make a quick trip down to the kitchens to have the house elves whip up something absolutely delicious for you," Sirius said pulling Alexa up from your chair. "Any requests?"

"Hmm…," James thought tapping his chin. "Well, some pumpkin pudding sounds fantastic."

"Alright, then pumpkin pudding it is," Sirius said graciously as he walked with Alexa toward the door of the hospital wing. Just as they were about to leave James stopped them.

"Wait!" he exclaimed suddenly. "I changed my mind; I want chocolate pudding instead of pumpkin."

"Alright, chocolate pudding it is," Sirius similarly said. He again turned to leave but again was stopped and forced to turn back to face us.

"Never mind, get me pumpkin," James said cheekily, smiling at Sirius.

Sirius let out an irritated huff. "Okay, are you sure?" Sirius asked, frustrated. "Are you absolutely sure?" James simply just nodded his head without any words. Sirius and Alexa quickly exited through the hospital wing's massive doors before James could stop them.

"You are going to milk this for all it's worth, aren't you," I asked smiling at James.

"At least with him I am," he responded slyly. "I should take advantage of it now, because who knows when the next time will be when Sirius is actually willing to do work. The three of us that remained laughed at the accuracy of the statement. "Hey Blair, will you do me a favor?"

Blair perked up at the sound of her name. "Yes, of course, what is it?" she asked willingly.

"Would you go up to my dorm and get me a pair of sweatpants, a shirt, and my toiletry bag. I need to get out of these clothes and freshen up a bit. I've gotten a bit unruly since I was put in here," James said rubbing his stubbled chin.

Blair had an anxious look on her face at this request. Seeing the cause of her discomfort and worry I said, "I'll stay with him, don't worry," I said. Blair looked at me with a weak smile and then nodded her head.

She slowly got up from her seat and began to move away. All the while, James and Blair's hands remained clasped. Blair continued to walk toward the door and when she reached the extent of her arm, James pulled her hand a bit to cause her to turn back toward him. "Thank you," James said. Blair smiled sweetly and then he released her hand. Blair continued to exit the hospital wing. When Blair had completely disappeared from sight, James said, "Is there something wrong with Blair, she doesn't seem like yourself."

"I think it's just a combination of tiredness, stress, and emotional exhaustion," I told him honestly.

"Well, why is she so tired and stressed?" he asked, clearly not even realizing the obvious answer to that question.

"Hello?" I said sarcastically. "It's you dummy. She has hardly left that chair," I said pointing to the chair Blair was previously occupying, "Since you were put in here. She spent her days and nights in here and wouldn't let any of us take turns with us during the night shift."

"She stayed in her the whole time?" James asked acting genuinely shocked. "She shouldn't have done that, it's not good for her."

"She couldn't bring herself to leave you," I told him. "She would sit in here day in and day out reading to you, talking to you, and simply just sitting with you." As I said this, I thought that maybe Blair didn't want all this information shared, but at this point it was already too late, and besides, it's not like they weren't totally in love with each other. James had a slight smile on his face and was looking down at his hands that were folded gently on top of his blanket. "James, be honest with me," I said looking him straight in the eyes. "What is going on between you two?" I questioned.

James looked at me in a way that told me that he was a bit surprised that I even asked that question. "Well, I don't know. I mean we're really good friends and all," he said stumbling over his words.

"Oh, come on James, you and I both know that there is more than that going on there," I said calling his bluff.

"Well, we've been talking a lot lately and reconnecting I guess. I don't know Lyla," he said trailing off questioning everything that he just said.

"What don't you know about?" I asked, scooting my chair closer so I could rest my elbows on the bed.

"How she feels. If we could even work out. I mean we didn't do so well the first time around," he rambled off.

"James, I'll tell you right now, and if you tell her I told you any of this I will personally kick you, she's crazy about you. She has been ever since you broke up. For a while it seemed that she had moved on but I think that deep down she always thought you were the one," I told him. "And as for the whole working out thing, it may and it may not. But that doesn't even matter, you'll never know if it could work unless you try it."

"Yeah, but I hurt her really bad last time. I don't want to put her through that again," he said.

"I won't lie, it was pretty rough on her last time; but as you can see, she's fine now. All wounds heal; some just take longer than others. Blair is tough, she can handle it, I promise," I assured him.

"I know you're right," James said, "It's just scary."

"James, the fearless Gryffindor Quidditch captain is scared? I thought you always had a play for everything," I joked with him.

James laughed a bit, "Yeah, well, girls are a bit more complicated and harder to figure out than Quidditch." I nodded my head in total agreement. "Tell me what I should do."

"Well, I can't tell you what to do; but if you want my advice, I think you should just go for it, and sooner rather than later," I told him. "Don't worry about what might happen or what people will think. The only thing that matters is you and her at this moment. Just take it day by day and you'll be fine."

James nodded his head as he took in everything that I told him. "Thanks, Lyla," he said as I nodded my head. "So, how are Alexa and Sirius doing?" he asked with a smile.

"As good as can be expected," I replied lightheartedly. Right at that moment the hospital wing door flew open and Alexa furiously appeared stalking toward us.

"I hate him so much!" Alexa exclaimed rather loudly.

James and I exchanged a quick knowing smile. "Oh, it's good to be back."

* * *

Baby Blue's Note: So, like my co-author said, sorry for the long wait and all but we hope that you enjoyed it and please leave a review. Leave a review for us and we will pay it forward by reviewing you! Hope you got that hint. I'm starting the next chapter as we speak/type/whatever so be on the lookout.

Have a good weekend!


	23. Tell me that you love Me

Disclaimer: We own nothing, because if we did, I would probably write more as would my co-author and we would probably check a little harder for spelling errors and the like. Oh, well, at least I can own the beautiful picture of what this is like in my head.

Baby Blue's Author Note: Well, lovely people of the Harry Potter fandom, I don't have much to say and will make this author's note amazingly short. Thanks to all the people who read and sorry for the wait for the chapter. We had retreat and I was without a computer for like four days. Tragic, I know. Anyways, drop us a review if you would be so inclined and I promise to review a story of yours.

Happy Thanksgiving! Moreover, enjoy!

* * *

_Tell Me That You Love Me_

_Alexa's Point of View_

For a week after James woke up from his Quidditch accident, Sirius and I had been close. Really close, in fact. There was just something about the fact that he had listened to me; that he had cared enough about me not to hurt anyone even if they deserved it. It was like after he had confided in me about how he felt during James' situation that we were ready to take the steps towards actually being a functional couple. Not that we had stopped fighting or anything.

The thought of that was enough to make me laugh because really, when would he and I ever stop the petty fighting.

Despite it all, though, there was just this nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach. Whenever I saw the forlorn looks of all his ex-girlfriends, I didn't want to one day become part of that crowd and watch him walk around with the person he was with. The whispers in the hallways, the smirks from all the 'know better than me' people were enough to make a girl go crazy.

"Alexa," The sound of my name brought me out of my stupor and I arched my back so Sirius' hands could get around the back to the clasp that was holding my bra together. The feel of his fingers made my eyes close as he continued to kiss the column of my neck. My hands, which had previously been twisting themselves around his black locks found their way to his face and I brought his lips up to meet my own.

When we broke apart for air, he looked down at me and smiled and through the haze that seemed to be induced by his presence, I rolled my eyes before kissing him again. I sighed into his kiss while wrapping one of my legs around his waist. My fingertips danced their way across the expanse of his shirtless back, the muscles working underneath the pads of my fingers.

Giving up on trying to get the last article of clothing off my chest, I felt Sirius' own fingers massaging my stomach and sides. Caught up in the moment, I absentmindedly flicked my wand towards the door to lock the way in and out. Sirius must have taken this as a good sign, despite all the protests that I had made before when I said that it wasn't going to go that far.

Without really realizing it, he had the buckle on my jeans unclasped and sliding off before I could register in my brain that he was even that close. The sliding sound had me gripping his shoulders tight as he ran his fingers along the expanse of my stomach until they reached the tops of my jeans.

My eyes opened when the button on my jeans was unsnapped. With my head tilted back on my pillow, I could see most of the Girl's dormitories and suddenly the position and situation I was in settled in. When everything started to register, my eyes closed and I tried to forget about all my doubts for just a few seconds more.

The silky strands of Sirius hair brushed my chest and he started following his fingers with his lips. It was almost too much to bear and I was ready to throw all caution to the wind when I remembered something.

"_I wouldn't call you a whore if you weren't acting like one."_

That sneaky little voice in the back of my mind made me remember when Caradoc and I had been dating. When he had walked in on Sirius and I making googly eyes at each other. However, we were dating now, Sirius and me, and this was normal stuff that girls did with their boyfriends.

_Normal stuff that girls who have boyfriends that haven't slept with half the female population at Hogwarts do_, the snide voice said again, and this time it was in the tone of my sister.

"Holy shit," I muttered before pushing on Sirius' shoulders. Starting to freak out, I pushed harder and Sirius looked up at me, his grey eyes even darker than they usually were. "Stop," I told him while trying to slide from underneath him. Catching my bra before it fell, I snapped the clasp back into place and wiggled away and off my bed.

Sirius rolled over and looked at me while I struggled to find where my t-shirt had gone. "What are you doing?" He asked me while I covered myself with my arms. "Alexa? Babe, what's going on?" Turning towards him it was hard not to jump right back to where we had been. The shirtless wonder that was Sirius Black was just lounging on my bed in his low-slung jeans, his immaculate body, and his beautiful hair. I bit my lip while holding back a groan.

"You need to get dressed. We have Astronomy and dinner later and I can't miss either one," I said throwing what looked to be his black t-shirt at him. He caught it deftly but just held the balled up article next to him while sitting up against the pillows that adorned my bed. His abs flexed and I frantically rushed around like a chicken without a head to find my clothes. "Seriously, put your shirt on before I jump back over there. "

"And that would be a bad thing because?" He asked while shrugging the shirt on anyways. With an 'Aha!' I picked up my button down shirt and shrugged in back on while fastening the buttons as fast as my fingers would go. It was amazing that Sirius could get the shirt off with practiced ease while I had to concentrate to keep my fingers from shaking.

"It would be a bad thing because I'm not going to do that," I said and I felt his arms encircle my waist while he bent down to lean his head on my shoulder and kiss the reddish mark left on my neck. "Please, don't." I pleaded while leaning my head over so he had better access. "Why is it so hard to say no?" I asked no one and Sirius laugh reverberated through my body.

He squeezed me tighter, his hands moving up the sides of my shirt. "You don't have to say no, Alex." He whispered with that seductive voice of his and I almost gave in before looking across the room and spotting Bree's bed. My chest tightened up and I remembered what she had said just this past Halloween. Or rather, what I had said to her.

"_What made you think that what you had with him was any more special than what he has had with over half of the female population? You were just another one of his whores." _

Feeling me tighten up, Sirius turned me around in his arms to look at me. "What did I do?" He asked while biting his lip and looking at me with a worried expression. That look; it was probably the same he had used a million times before whenever he wanted to get a girl to bed.

"I just," I started and then shrugged out of his hold while putting some distance between us. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed while looking at me with his expression wavering between confused and annoyed. "I can't do this," I gestured between the bed and us, "With you. I just can't."

Sirius looked at me for a second before he crossed his arms over his chest. "We were just doing normal couple stuff, Alexa. I didn't try anything funny with you and it's not like I'm inexperienced or anything." he talked confidently but what he was saying made me want to hit myself in the face.

"That's why we can't do this kind of stuff! I'm not one of those girls that you just sleep around with," I said while standing up straighter and mocking his pose.

He sighed before gesturing to my jeans. "You let me get the belt off; what makes you think that it wasn't going to go further. I like you, Alexa; you're my girlfriend."

"But that doesn't mean that I'm just going to automatically do that kind of stuff." I spat back while reaching down to buckle my belt back. I felt like an idiot while he stood across the room from me. The bed, _my bed,_ looked like a promise of what was to come and I looked away quickly.

"Why won't you even say it?" He asked after the silence between us had been going on for more than a few minutes. "Yes; I want you. I'm pretty sure I've made that clear so I don't see why you're acting like this is such a surprise." Sirius ran both hands over his face before walking towards me.

I backed up when he got close and pulled at the tips of my hair while trying to think of what to say. He was making sense; he had been clear in his intentions. It didn't sit right with me, however, to think that I wouldn't be another notch in his bedpost. Even though we were close and had been dating for about two months.

Flexing my hands, I looked up at him trying to make him understand. "I don't do things like this, Sirius; I've never been invested in people before. This is hard for me. I need to trust you." Something I'd never seen in his eyes before took over those grey depths as Sirius took a step back and a mask fell over his face, schooling his features into a perpetual scowl.

"You don't trust me? I'm not a bad person, which I thought I had made clear to you over the past few months. Not only did I do everything I could to get you to give me a chance, but I sat around and I _waited_ for you when you chose that tool over me." He said, raising his voice a little with each point that he made.

I winced a bit when he let out a frustrated sigh. "It's not that I don't trust you, Sirius. Will you just listen for a minute before you start yelling? The fact is that I'm scared, okay? I can't, no I won't, be what Bree was to you." I gestured to the bed that was across from us, not having been used in a long time, but the general air of bitchiness that had surrounded it was still there.

Beginning to pace around, Sirius looked back and forth between everything but me. I shoved my trembling hands in my pockets to keep them from being seen as Sirius turned back towards me. "But you're not those other girls," He said and I held my breath for what came next.

_Earlier That Day_

"You are so freaking high right now!" Lyla said to me in an incredulous voice as we walked down the corridor towards the Common Room on the first Thursday of February. James had been out of the Hospital Wing for almost a week now and it was hard to find time between school and trying to figure out what the hell was going on with Blair (since we still weren't allowed to sleep in our own dorms) so we had decided to take a walk to figure out what we were going to do.

"You're the one that suggested the damn thing in the first place!" I yelled back at my sister as she shushed me loudly while the people in the vicinity of us gave us mean looks. "Oh, piss off! Studying isn't everything," I told a third year Ravenclaw as they passed us on his way to lunch.

Rolling her eyes, Lyla pulled on my arm to slow me to a halt. "We can not take the Veritisserum and _shove_ it down Bree and Andy's throats. It's unsanitary for us to do so, but it is also against the rules of social behavior. We'll have to think of another way to get back into Blair's good graces."

"Acceptable behavior be damned; I need to sleep in my own bed!" I pleaded to my sister and once again, she struck her 'I'm not going to budge so just shut up and get used to it' pose. "You don't understand what it is like to have to sleep on the Common Room couches." I told her.

"And you wouldn't have to sleep down there if you hadn't gotten kicked out of the boy's dormitories." Lyla explained to me as if I was a five year old. And that was how I felt right now. Like a bloody freaking five years old. "I still don't understand how you could have really punched Sirius in the stomach while you were sleeping. Unless of course you want to fess up about what you two were really doing."

Rolling my eyes this time, I fake punched her in the arm while acting hurt with my other hand up to my heart. "I love the fact that you just blasphemed my name like that, and while I will neither confirm nor deny your speaking this brings me back to my first point. You. Are. High."

"That was my original point." Lyla said while looking at me as if I was crazy as we approached the Fat Lady. "Licorice sticks." She said and the portrait swung open, revealing James and Blair standing inside the little hallway thing conversing.

"What the hell is doing, my friends!" I asked in an overly cheery voice, hoping that if I was, as Lyla so eloquently put it, 'high' I would be able to play my way through this without Blair cursing me. It seemed like the opposite of what I wanted as James began to convulse with laughter and Lyla struck me on the back of my head, swinging my ponytail around to slap me in the face.

"You literally have no brain, Alexa." Blair told me but the scathing tone in her voice was gone and she looked just about as tired of this little tiff as we were. "Can I talk to you guys upstairs for a bit?" She asked and graciously I nodded my head while practically mowing down James in order to get inside the common room.

"Where's the fire, Alex?" Remus asked me as I passed him and Sirius.

I looked backwards while slowing my pace and stuck my tongue out. "In your dorm if you don't look out, Mr. Lupin." I said in a sickly sweet voice. Then I smiled. "Where are you two off to anyways?"

"To do marauder type business," Sirius said with a secretive smile. I nodded as if I knew what they were talking about. "Anyways, we're taking James to do his first prank of the New Year since we didn't get to do one after he had his tragic accident." He said while valiantly swinging his arm around James who looked annoyed by all the treatment he was getting. In fact, I'm almost positive that even that Slytherin that the Marauders always picked on was even somewhat less, as Sirius put it, prankable.

"Get off me, freak." James said while shrugging off his best friend's arm. Looking at Blair, he sent her a smile and then squeezed her hand before letting go and turning towards the door again. "Come on, Messer's Moony and Padfoot. Having a prefect with us will only allow us out for so long and we have mischief to manage."

We all waved goodbye before walking away towards our own dorms in much need to have a little bit of a talk about what was eating Gilbert Grape. Or Blair Winchester in this case. There was a tense feeling surrounding the three of us as we entered the dorms and we each went to our respective beds as Blair assumed the leadership position.

"I know that you guys aren't lying when you said that Bree and Andy are bitches and that they like to hurt us, but I was really heart when I found out that you guys were talking to Lily." Blair said taking a deep breath and folding her hands in her lap. Lyla was quick to defend our positions.

"I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that we weren't talking to her, but the only reason we were is to try and get you and James back together again. We never intended for you to find out and think that we meant anything else." I nodded emphatically while Lyla crossed her legs and leaned her elbows on her knees.

I scooted towards the end of my bed to look at Blair who was still looking at us with a weird expression. "Blair, listen, I just want to say that I am extremely sorry but we were doing what we thought was going to be best. You were so upset that James' mind was boggled and we were just making sure that Lily and the rest of the castle knew that James was off limits." I schooled my features into the best sorry face that I could manage and then continued to stare at Blair until she smiled slightly.

"I hate fighting with you all." Blair said while hugging her arms around herself. "But next time, if you could let me in on the plans or just let me deal with this stuff in my own way, it would be much appreciated." Lyla let out a whoop and I flopped down onto my bed with a sigh. Rolling over to look at Blair, I sat up on my elbows some.

"Does this mean that we can sleep in the dorm again?" I asked with a hopeful smile. Blair nodded while rolling her eyes and tossing a pillow at me. "Oh, thank Merlin. I don't think I could take one more night in either the Common Room or the other dorms."

Blair looked up curiously, as Lyla assented to my last statement. "I agree. No offense, but I don't see how you can date Sirius when his side of the room looks like a land mine has gone off over there." Blair laughed and I shrugged my shoulders while lying at the end of my bed and flipping onto my stomach to cradle my chin in my hand.

"Well, he's hot," I winked while my two best friends laughed. "What? It's not like you can deny the accuracy of that statement. Lyla, you've seen him in just a towel; back me up sister."

"I'm keeping my mouth shut about all things having to do with Sirius' body." Lyla mumbled while blushing red. I giggled and Blair must have finally had enough of our cryptic-ness for she broke in with a question of her own.

"Why were you guys in the boy's dormitories?" She asked while peering at us in curiosity. "And better yet, where the heck did you sleep? Why'd you get kicked out too, Alexa; if Sirius was my boyfriend I'd kick his ass." Doing her patented 'talk too fast; ask too many questions' routine, I let Lyla take the first two questions seeing as the last two were really directed at me.

We exchanged a look before Lyla dove into her explanation. "Well, we weren't going to chance asking Marlene about sleeping in the seventh's dorms because Bree was already there and the chance for that to turn real awkward real fast was almost too much so we just asked the boys. It wasn't that bad and we just slept on James' bed until he got out of the Hospital Wing and then that's when it turned tragic."

"I do not think that the word to use there is 'tragic,' Lyla; Sirius and I just had a little misunderstanding that would have never happened if you hadn't brought up the fact that we were sleeping together." I crossed my arms as best I could while lying down and tried to defend myself while Blair laughed like a hyena on her bed.

"While I realize that you probably aren't actually 'sleeping' with Sirius, I still would like to point out the fact that that situation would be quite hilariously awkward if that was going on with the others in the room. Didn't know you were so voyeuristic, Alex." It was my turn to blush as Blair continued to cackle and Lyla continued her story.

"So anyways, the night that James got out of the hospital, there was really no room to sleep anywhere, so we decided that it would be best if we just shared beds." Lyla looked over at me with a deviant smile.

Blair sat up on her bed to get a better listening position as she wiggled her eyebrows. "And this is where it gets good right?" She asked while bouncing up and down on her knees. It was my turn to roll my eyes as I buried my face in my hands.

"Sirius and I were trying to get comfortable, fully clothed I may add for your benefit, and I may have accidentally elbowed him in the gut and then when I tried to help him, he fell of the bed and hit his head on the bedside table." I spoke quickly hoping that I could overtake the embarrassment and they wouldn't hear but the raucous laughter that broke out on both sides of me spoke otherwise. "It wasn't a laughing matter! He kicked me out and told me that I was a trouble magnet." I groaned.

"Which inevitably led to Alexa sleeping on a couch in the Common Room," Lyla finished for me and I flipped myself onto my back to stare at the canopy of the bed instead of my laughing roommates.

"Go ahead and laugh it up; we know what you were doing with Remus," I told my sister and then assumed a high-pitched giggle. "'Oh, Remus; you are such a wolf,' no pun intended." I said with a girlish sigh. Blair, still laughing, took on the persona of our resident werewolf.

"'Well, Lyla, you just know how I am. Now come over here so I can have my way with you.'" She lowered her voice to somewhat of a burly woodsman and I laughed loudly while Lyla crossed her arms and looked at us in annoyance.

"I will have you know that Remus and I are not intimate in that way. You're one to talk too, Alexa. If I remember correctly we walked in on you and Sirius getting pretty into it the other day did we not?" I sighed in a rush as I remembered that uncomfortable situation.

"Yeah, well, we've been close lately." I defended myself and the dejected tone that I was trying to hide snuck into my voice at the last minute. At once, Blair and Lyla were next to me on my four-poster with Blair's arm around my shoulders in a motherly way.

"What's up with that?" She asked me and the emotion I was feeling came out in a rush of words.

"He wants to be closer and it's not like I don't want to be like that with him, but I just am not so sure anymore where to go with our relationship." I pulled the ends of my hair that were hanging over my shoulder and looked to my sister and best friend for answers. "Just tell me what to do."

"Alexa, if you want someone to tell you not to be with Sirius you're not going to find the answer here." Lyla said while putting a hand on my knee and squeezing it the way our mom does when we're upset. "You have to answer that question by yourself because this relationship doesn't depend on what your best friends think. Just on what you think and how you feel about him."

I sighed, because what I was about to say was either going to shock my friends into a coma or be blatant news that I should have known earlier but was too stubborn to figure it out. "But I love him, and that's the problem. I don't know if I'm ready or not, but I know he is." Obviously, it was the latter seeing as neither of the started to freak out. I hate being so predictable.

"Well, have you told him that? Maybe all you need to do is explain the situation to him." Lyla asked me again in that motherly voice that she was so good at perfecting. I wanted to pout and just tell them to give me an answer, but I figured I needed to explain this.

"That's my point though, you guys. We haven't said those words yet, and I don't want to tell him that and freak him out or pressure him into saying it if he isn't ready yet." I pulled my legs up to my chin, smoothing out my school robes and skirt to cover my legs more. "I mean, this is the great playboy Sirius Black. He doesn't make ties with the girls he sleeps around with."

"But you're not 'those girls,' Alex." Blair said speaking for the first time since I had told them about this whole bloody situation. I looked at my brunette friend and saw the recognition in her eyes. She had been through this same turmoil with the whole James-loves-Lily-now-he-loves-you situation. "You already have the boy and you didn't have to sleep with him to gain it."

"I know;" I relented trying to get this nagging feeling off my chest. Finally, instead of volleying around lies that were going to get me nowhere because they would know I wasn't being honest, I just told the truth. "I'm scared though. What if this is all just a fling for him and he doesn't feel the same way as I do?" There I had said it and nothing had really happened to me. No lightening; no plagues. It was still early though.

"Then you need to ask him or you won't know. And I know it's scary. How do you think I felt when I told Remus I loved him for the first time?" Lyla looked at me in understanding as well, and I felt really safe. For once in my life, I actually tried to listen to her usually correct advice. "It scared the balls out of me but I did it because it was how I felt."

The knowing looks my friends were giving each other was beginning to make me sick. Therefore, like always, I decided that all this sincere stuff was giving me the hives. "You guys suck you know that. All this lovey dovey stuff is making me sick. Let's just go back to class okay?" I said, while checking a pretend watch and realizing that we probably were going to be late for potions if we didn't get our asses up and down to the common room soon.

"You'll have to deal with it sooner or later," Blair yelled at me as I gathered my stuff from my bed. I turned around to look at her while stowing my wand in my pocket and slinging my messenger bag over my shoulder.

"Yes, well, later sounds like a peachy keen time to deal with it." I smiled sweetly and then bounded out the doors and into the Common Room where I waited for my sister and best friend. I would deal with it later, I told myself while making faces at myself in the window. Much later, preferably when Sirius was asleep or drugged.

* * *

"Ms. Parker, could I have a word with you?" I was midway through a grueling double potions class, my robe flung too close to the flame under my cauldron and the room too stifling hot when Professor Slughorn made his way over to our table. Nodding my head, I looked up to see that he was actually talking to Lyla who had headed over to his desk already.

His head was bent over a piece of parchment while Lyla stood before him with a questioning stare on her face. Elbowing Sirius lightly in the arm, I nodded my head towards the pair. "What do you suppose that he wants with her?" Sirius looked at me and shrugged while lazily twirling his wand in between his long fingers. "Are you going to help at all since you got here late and we've already done half of this?" I asked him in an annoyed voice while he blew sparks from the tip of the wooden stick.

"I did keep you from catching your whole head on fire," He told me snottily and I remembered him producing a hair tie for me when I bent over the potion to almost brush my now almost elbow length hair into the flame.

Rolling my eyes, I nodded back towards the ingredients table. "Whatever; just go get the rest of the dragon liver and don't cause any trouble." I told him while spotting Severus Snape at the closest table to the ingredients. Sirius' eyes lit up when he understood what I was talking about, so I pinched him for good measure and he saluted me.

"Aye, Captain." He said, and then rubbed his arm with his free hand. "Must you always be so violent?" As he was leaving the table, I gave him a threatening look and then saw Lyla pass through my line of sight as she reached our table.

The look on my sisters face told me that something big had just went down with our walrus of a teacher. "I just point blank lied to a teacher with a straight face and a smile," She told me with a scared expression. Then turning to me, she pointed her finger in my face. "Look at what you and our hoodlum friends have done to me! I need to go study or go to the library; anything to remind myself I am a good student."

I laughed aloud while stirring our potion clockwise for three turns and watching as it turned periwinkle. Then I looked back up to Lyla who still had a stricken look on her face. "Oh, calm down; lying to a teacher isn't the worst thing that could happen to a person. At least you're not dating this one." I said with a smile as Sirius returned to the table with a satisfied smirk. I looked back to the table he was just at to see Lily Evans fuming while her partner, a Ravenclaw girl, swooned.

Feeling justified, I punched Sirius in the shoulder for good measure. "That was so uncalled for." he said in an offended voice. Rolling my eyes, I nodded for him to begin to start dicing the liver up. "Must I always be punished for my looks? Of course, but only because people are jealous of your fascinating features, Sirius." I raised my eyebrows as Sirius continued his conversation with himself.

"Okay, Lyls, tell me exactly what happened." I said while putting the stirring rod down and wiping the sweat from my forehead. Who knew potions could be such a gross class. Lyla looked over to James and Remus' table, before seeing Blair at another table with some boy from Ravenclaw. Luckily, no one from their Quidditch team was in this class with us or there would have been a smack down.

Someone's throat clearing brought me back to attention. Turning back to my sister, I motioned for her to continue. "Well, you saw him come up to the table, and I wasn't really sure what he wanted with me until he pulled out a sheet of parchment and waved it in front of me." Lyla started to throw ingredients into the potion without effort and I lunged towards the cauldron, but whatever she had thrown in there seemed to be correct so I let it slide.

"And then? A piece of parchment isn't really that much to worry about," I told Lyla in a hushed voice as Slughorn began his usual rounds of going around the tables for inspection. He reached the table next to ours, and nodded his head in approval at the potion that James and Remus had produced. When he reached our table, I noticed that he raised an eyebrow and then patted Sirius on the head.

Sirius looked up at Slughorn with an odd expression before turning to us. "That man is obviously crazy, Lyla, so I don't think you have to worry about much." Ruffling his hair back into place, he haphazardly continued to chop ingredients.

"Don't say that about a teacher, Sirius," Lyla berated in what she was trying to muster into an authoritative voice. "As a prefect I am not supposed to allow talking about teachers in a less than respective tone." Sirius looked at my sister in what could only be described as a devastated expression.

"I'm wounded, Lyla. What happened to the person you were becoming? I liked her better," He muttered and I rolled my eyes before taking the knife from him and adding some of the chopped liver. Gross.

Lyla looked at Sirius for a moment and then rolled her eyes. "Anyways, he asked me if we had taken anything when we had been in the storeroom and I had started to freak out because you spilt all those potions and then he said that he was missing his one vial of Veritisserum." My eyes widened when I remembered grabbing the thin, small bottle of the potion he was currently missing.

"Please, dear Merlin, tell me that you told him that you hadn't even heard of the potion. Much less that I had actually any idea what that potion was." I begged my sister, who once again was running her hands through her hair.

"Actually, I told him that I didn't even know he could procure a bottle of the potion without special permission and he produced a freaking document from the Minister of freaking Magic telling him that he had permission to brew it." She turned back to our potion for a moment while I snuck a glance at Slughorn who was sitting at his desk grading papers. "Then he asked me if I could possibly remember seeing a bottle and I told him that I had know idea if we had seen it and then I bolted."

I breathed in through my nose hard and then sighed. "So he basically thinks that he's going crazy and we stole a serum that is not only illegal in some places but is also dangerous when used incorrectly." At Lyla's panicked look, I shrugged my shoulders. "I boned up on my reading once I knew what we had stolen."

"We didn't steal anything, little sister. You are the one who procured the potion so if I go down, you're going first." I put my hands on my hips when I realized that she was totally serious about all of this. I huffed in frustration as she bottled our now finished potion and vanished what was in the rest of the cauldron. Sirius, I noticed, was already done cleaning up the unused things and was leaning his stool back on two legs and amusing himself by balancing it.

I rolled my eyes before turning to Lyla. "For the love of all that is holy, you can not rat me out until we find out if we are really in trouble or not. I mean it, Lyla, if no one comes to you and tells you straight up that you stole the potion you don't say anything." She nodded vigorously before going to present Slughorn with our finished product. As she was leaving, James strolled up to our table while knocking the stool out from under Sirius and sending him sprawling to the ground.

"What's up, bitches?" He asked in a rather loud voice when he reached our table. "I hear you stole a very valuable potion, Alexa." I groaned while Sirius sat on the floor glaring up at his best friend. James, however, didn't care or notice and he grabbed the stool Sirius had been on while taking a seat.

"Really, James, could you keep your voice down. You know that I took it anyways, you obnoxious prat. It's for a good reason anyways so you can't say anything." I said in a harsh whisper while helping Sirius clamber up from the ground. He pushed James in the shoulder before deciding to lean up against the table. James put a hand over his heart in a wounded way.

"Of course I already knew that, but I was just stating the obvious and if you didn't realize it, there was praise in my tone." He said while rubbing a hand through his hair and watching Blair roll her eyes at her partner before walking past our table to take her finished product to be graded. "My partner is a complete toad," She said, as she passed us, not bothering to keep her voice down in her annoyed state.

"I really don't see what the big deal is," Sirius said as he took my bag from me as he walked out of the classroom when class was finally over. Lyla and Remus were walking a few steps ahead of us, deep in conversation about the pros and cons of what we were going to do to Bree and Andy. "Why can't you just take what you all need and then put the potion back?"

I shrugged while watching Remus put his hand in Lyla's and pull her closer while kissing her forehead. It was sweet how much they loved each other and really got each other. It also made my stomach hurt. "It's not that simple because once separated from the main brew, the potion becomes stable for only a few hours. After that it's unusable unless you want some awkward side effects."

Sirius cocked an eyebrow at me while hitching both our bags up on his shoulder a little more. "When did you get so smart? It's almost like you were studying or something." He said with a slight smirk on his face.

"Shut you damn mouth," I snapped with a smile. "Contrary to popular belief I can be smart when I want to, okay? Why does that always surprise everyone? I'm not a complete idiot," Crossing my arms over my chest, I continued to walk down the corridor towards the Common Room. I didn't hear Sirius come up next to me until my hands were uncrossed and one his own linked fingers with me.

"Alexa," He said while using his other hand to tilt my chin up to look at him, which I was stubbornly refusing to do. "No one thinks that you're stupid. Marauder's Honor that we all think you're one of the most clever people here at school." I rolled my eyes at him but wrapped an arm around his waist as we walked. His arm over my shoulders was both warm and comforting.

"And when have I ever been able to trust a Marauder's Honor?" I mused. He pulled me close while laughing and I couldn't help but smile. "You always make me feel better," I said and held my breath because it was really one of the only times that I had ever said anything involving feelings with him.

"I've got to keep my girl happy," He said when we reached the portrait hole. After saying the password, he put his arm out in front of me to let me go first. "My dorm or your's?" He asked in what I'm sure was a playful tone but I just rolled my eyes.

I looked around the common room to find the rest of my friends, but since they weren't about I shrugged my shoulder and walked towards the stairs to the girl's dorms. "I guess mine; but we have to study, Sirius. This astronomy exam is going to bite us if we don't at least get some of the answers right."

He nodded and then handed me my bag as he turned to the boy's dorms. "Let me change my clothes and then I'll be up there." I rolled my eyes knowing that he was only doing this so I wouldn't be able to find out how they got up the stairs when they really weren't allowed in the first place. "You're welcome to come watch me change if you want." He added in and I shoved him towards his own stairs while walking up my own.

"I'm sure you'd like that," I called back down and I heard him laugh before he raced up the stairs to his dorm. I walked into my own dorm and threw my robe onto the trunk in front of my bed before changing into jeans and a button down green shirt. Running a brush through my knotted hair, I rolled the ponytail holder onto my wrist. As I was setting out my Astronomy tables and star charts, Sirius walked in with his hands in his pockets and shit eating grin on his face. "What did you do now?"

He grinned again before dropping to my bed. "Don't even worry about it," He told me in a sneaky voice. I narrowed my eyes at him before settling at the opposite end of the bed with my star chart. I traced the outline of the constellation _Orion_, the _Canis Major_, my fingers finding the star that was always right in front off me. "No, but really, don't even worry about it. You'll find out soon enough."

I rolled my eyes, but knowing I couldn't fight it began my endless facts to study from. "The star _Procyon_ is…" We really only studied for about half an hour before Sirius got bored and began to demand payment for correct answers.

He had just answered a correct question about the _Gemini_ brothers when he whispered, "The only thing you really need to know is that I'm the brightest star in the sky." I laughed at the dumb pun, but let him kiss me anyways. When we broke for air, I whispered, "That was probably the stupidest joke I've ever heard," But continued to let him kiss me until we ended up in a fight.

_Present Time_

Beginning to pace around, Sirius looked back and forth between everything but me. I shoved my trembling hands in my pockets to keep them from being seen as Sirius turned back towards me. "But you're not those other girls," He said and I held my breath for what came next. His mouth hung open for a minute before he closed it and continued to pace again.

"What? You can't just sit there and not tell me what you're going to say, Sirius. I'm not going to be the one that always has to be left hanging. If you have something to say then say it." He continued to not say anything so I moved to stand in front of him, demanding that he say something. "Say it, damn it."

"I just, it's different this time, okay?" He said while looking at me like he wanted to say more and shake me at the same time. "Why can't you just get that?"

"Why not? Well, why is it different this time?" I shouted. "Because I didn't fawn over you after the first time you looked my way? Or is it the fact that I didn't let you in my skirt after the first five minutes of talking to you? Wait, I know why, it's because I" Sirius cut me off before I went even further.

"It's because I love you, damn it. Is that what you wanted to hear?" He ran a hand through his hair, tugging at the roots. My mouth gaped open like a fish's while he continued.

"I don't know what," I started but he cut me off and went on.

"It's because when I see you come into the common room my hands start to sweat. It's because when I hear you laugh or you do that thing where you tilt your head and bite your lip when you're thinking my heart speeds up. It's because you make me a total pansy when it comes to doing things for you and I don't even care. It's because you don't take into consideration my family legacy and the fact that you can actually formulate a full sentence with verbs and nouns and prepositions." he took a breath and took my hands in his while I stared up at him in disbelief. "And if you need me to go on I can, but it would probably take all week. The bottom line is, I don't know when it happened, but I think that I've been in love with you since the moment I saw you, Alexa Parker. And that's why you're different than all the other girls."

I didn't realize I was crying until he wiped away the few tear tracks with his thumbs. "Oh, Merlin, Sirius." I said while flinging myself into his arms and kissing him with all I was worth. "I love you too!" I said while kissing him numerous times.

When we broke apart for air, he smiled down at me and the feeling of happiness that had engulfed me bubbled up to the surface hardcore. "I want you to know that I'm not pressuring you, Alexa. I'm not that guy and I'm not going to be that guy. So when you're ready, so am I. Until then, you call the shots." He said while combing his fingers through my hair.

"So, if I call the shots does that mean I get to tell you what to do from now on?" I asked with a cocky voice and he rolled his eyes before kissing me again.

* * *

"Oh my lord, get in here immediately," Blair whisper shrieked as Sirius, James, and I made our way to the Astronomy classroom later on that night. The line into the classroom was dense and I looked up to see James furrowing his eyebrows.

"Maybe we shouldn't have stayed down at dinner so long," He said while pushing through the younger students who were obviously not in our class but were waiting outside anyways. "Excuse me; if you're not in this class I suggest you scurry along before I hex all of you!" The flurry of students began to part as we walked in James' wake and as we reached the entrance to the classroom Lily Evans sent James a hateful glare while smiling at me.

"What's the big deal? I'm pretty sure that Astronomy class isn't going anywhere and the stars are always out so what's with everyone's newfound appreciation to study them?" I asked the redhead and she shrugged her shoulders.

Sirius pulled out my seat at our desk that we shared and then sat in his own. "This better be good because I could be asleep right now." He slumped over in his seat and ran a hand through his hair before closing his eyes. Lyla turned around from in front of us and sat facing towards us.

"I heard that it had something to do with having a new teacher." She said while not looking up from her notes. "Hopefully whoever she is won't make us take this test. How am I supposed to be able to remember all the constellations and their stars when we haven't had time to review properly?" As she continued to ramble on, I looked over towards Remus to find him rolling his eyes. Pulling out my own notes, I perused them without much interest and then looked up when Blair jumped over to our table.

"Apparently Sinistra had to leave on account of some family emergency. To which I say who even knew she had a family? Most of the time I just thought that she sprang forth from some hole in the ground two-hundred years ago or something," Blair paused for a moment to suck in some much-needed air before continuing. "Anyways, our new teacher is fresh from Beauxbatons where he was like basically the most amazing student to ever grace their halls. Which isn't really saying much because we all know how snotty those French people are."

James, who was sitting on the corner of our table, spoke up from where he was. "I always thought French women were kind of hot," He said and I laughed from where I sat as Blair turned towards the boy and crossed her arms over her shoulders with a huff. "I mean, wasn't Sinistra a bit of a French person? Maybe I've always just had a thing for hot teachers."

"Oui," Sirius commented with his eyes still closed and his hair hiding his face. Elbowing him in the side, I pretended to act offended. But really, I was still elated on the inside because of the revelation he had had earlier today. As if she knew what I was thinking about, Lyla looked up from her notes and her new studious manner slipped away slightly. She beamed at me and I couldn't help but smile back.

"All I know is that class better be starting soon or I'm going to have to slap a ho," I said while tossing my notes back onto my desk and leaning back in my chair. James nodded his assent while slapping Remus, who looked to be asleep, on the back of the head so he would sit up straight.

"I was perfectly fine, James. No need for physical violence," Remus said while rubbing the back of his head with his hand. He glared up at James for a minute before looking around the room. When his vision narrowed, I followed his line of sight with my own eyes. My jaw hit the floor when Remus spoke. "Who's the new kid?" He asked and the rest of my friends looked around before finding the person in question.

"Hello, Mr. Greek god," Blair said in a low voice and I couldn't help but agree with her. The new student was lounging in the back of the classroom, standing against the wall and striking a very masculine and beautiful silhouette. His light brown hair was cropped short to his skull and his whole demeanor just screamed sex god. I let my eyes roam around his perfectly formed features and noticed he had the most beautiful blue eyes. Like way prettier than Caradoc's or even Remus' were. They were a beautiful turquoise color that reminded me of the beaches of the Mediterranean.

We were all still staring, except of course my idiot sister who was trying to live up to her old image of perfect student, when he pushed off the wall. "What a tool," Sirius said while turning to face front just in case the new kid wanted to strike up a conversation. James nodded and then grabbed Blair's hand before pulling her back over to their table. I could see her lips moving, most likely telling James off, but he didn't seem to care as he sat her in her seat.

Turning back to Sirius I smiled at him. "We should all just try to be friendly," I suggested and Sirius rolled his eyes before crossing his arms over his chest. "Not that it matter or anything. Because I love you," I told him and I couldn't help the blush on my cheeks when he turned back to me and smirked.

"You know that's right," He said with his smirk still in place. Remus stayed turned towards us. "I agree with Alexa. I mean, who really wants to move to a new school halfway through the year and make new friends? Besides we would all do well to show some kindness. Perhaps it would absolve you two of your more idiotic sins." He looked pointedly at us and I put a hand to my chest.

"All of the schemes that I pull are very humane and definitely not worthy of punishment." I defended myself while trying to keep a straight face. Sirius on the other hand just shrugged and rummaged through his bag for a paper wad.

"I would probably make the priest cry," He said with a shrug while balling up the paper harder and then tossing it hard at James. Remus opened his mouth to berate his friend when the ball of paper caught fire in mid air. I jumped slightly and Sirius looked miffed as he sent his gaze around the classroom for the perpetrator. The only one who looked slightly guilty was the new kid. Probably because he had his wand raised and was looking at Sirius with a 'no, no' expression. "What the hell?" Sirius asked the kid.

As he walked forward, his robe billowed out in front of him and something about him made me think that he wasn't just a student. "I don't tolerate paper throwing, cursing, or lewd words in my classroom. Ten points from Gryffindor for breaking all three words within the first ten minutes of class." I'm almost positive that it was so quiet in the classroom that you could hear the water running in the kitchens at the bottom of the castle.

"You're the teacher?" Sirius asked in an incredulous voice and the mystery man walked up to the front of the room. Now I realized why he had seemed so unlike a student. First, his whole attire was wrong. The uniform students wore was not adorned on his body but his white dress shirt was done up with a solid tie and his cream sweater wasn't embellished with any house crest. Also, the way his robes billowed was like a clear sign.

Flicking his wand in the air, a set of rules and a name appeared at the top of the chalkboard. "Indeed I am, Mr. Black. My name is Professor Wolfe and these are the class rules." I looked around in astonishment as this beautiful specimen of a man walked around to the desk at the front of the classroom. Blair was looking at him with her mouth open and James was glaring with suspicious eyes.

Looking to Remus, I noticed that he had his arms crossed and was leaning smugly back in his chair like he knew he was right about being nice and courteous to the new person. It was my sister that surprised me the most, however, as she dropped her notes which had been hanging loosely in her grip. He hand fluttered to her hair before she seemed to realize what she was doing. Dropping the offending hand, she snuck a glance to Remus before looking at the chalkboard.

Feeling the need to ask the burning question that had popped into my mind, I raised my hand. Professor Wolfe turned towards me and acknowledged my hand with a nod. "Yes, Ms," He said with a questioning lilt and I blushed slightly while lowering my hand back to the top of my desk.

"Parker, sir; Alexa Parker." He smiled at me and I swooned slightly before continuing. "Well, don't get upset with me for saying this but aren't you a bit young to be a professor here?" The grin appeared on his face again and I reminded myself that I couldn't fall at his feet because my boyfriend was sitting right next to me. With that reminder, I looked over to Sirius who was glaring at me.

I sent him a sorry look while grasping his hand under the table. I squeezed his hand and he huffed but left his hand in my own so I took that as a sign that he wasn't mad at me. "Well, Ms. Parker, I am just out of school but I know quite a lot about Astronomy so Professor Dumbledore found it fit to hire me while Professor Sinistra is away on leave." Nodding my head, I watched as he looked around the room at all the adoring stares he was getting from the girls.

"Now, I understand that there was some sort of test today but Professor Sinistra did not leave me anything to go off of so I'm not really comfortable giving an exam over something I haven't covered with you. So what if we start out with some work with the telescopes." He pointed his wand towards a cabinet in the back near the door that led to the open part of the tower. "If you all could pair up we'll head outside."

The screeching of the chairs that were being pushed out was loud as we grabbed empty star charts from the desk and made our way outside. Sirius lugged the telescope for us while I caught up with Blair and Lyla. "So, I never thought I would be able to say that I have the hots for a teacher," Blair whispered as we climbed a few stairs to get to the observatory tower.

"Then again, none of our other teachers looked like they stepped out of a fantasy romance book," I countered and Blair nodded. "What about you, Lyla. You haven't said much about him." My sister blushed again before rolling her eyes at herself.

"I've already met him," She said through clenched teeth and Blair and I widened our eyes while leaning in closer so she could talk. "I was walking through the halls earlier looking for Professor McGonagall because our essays hadn't been given back yet and I need mine to study for our test next week and I tripped over someone in the hallway."

"Let me guess, it was that exquisite man up there." I said nodding to where Professor Wolfe was standing and instructing James and Peter on the proper technique of using their telescope. James watched on with a bored expression while Peter nodded along with Wolfe. He bent over to look into the telescope and Blair made an appreciative noise in the back of her throat. I couldn't help but laugh. "You are so obvious." I lamented to my friend.

She just shrugged and then Lyla went back to her story. "It was actually Mac Nair from Slytherin, but then I rounded the corner and Professor Wolfe was there and said he was impressed at how I handled myself in front of Mac Nair," She sighed and then looked around to make sure no one was listening. "I stumbled around my words for a few minutes, because yeah, this guy is fucking sexy and then I went on my way. If I had known he was a professor though."

Trailing off she walked over to where Remus was waiting for her and she smiled serenely at him as they started to take notes on the stars. Blair and I looked at each other before smiling knowingly. "She totally wants to reproduce with him," Blair said and I nodded in agreement.

"Who wouldn't?" I asked before walking over to Sirius while Blair went to work with James who had ditched Peter. Putting my arms around Sirius' waist, I leaned into him as he looked through the eyepiece of the telescope. "Hey sexy," I said and he laughed while bending back up.

"You fill out the star chart and I'll look at the stars," He told me and I got out my quill while I labeled the ones he told me too. We worked in tandem for a few minutes before a screech was heard and Lyla was clutching her eye. Peter stood next to her and Remus looking dejected and slightly helpless. Professor Wolfe made his way over as we all watched.

"What seems to be the problem over here, guys?" Wolfe asked while Remus ran a hand over his face and explained the situation. I laughed slightly when he expressed the part about Peter jumping in front of the telescope and Lyla jumping and smacking her face on the object. Lyla and Peter were arguing about whose fault it was when Professor Wolfe took Lyla's hand from her eye and inspected it.

I knew before I could see the cherry red on my sister's cheek that she was blushing, because really, he was basically holding her face in his long fingered, delicate hands. "Alright, how about Mr. Lupin and Mr. Pettigrew take this telescope as partners and we'll get you sorted out Ms. Parker. You can be my partner for tonight's charts." Lyla nodded her head while rubbing at her swollen eye again.

As they walked away with Professor Wolfe's hand guiding them as Lyla 'couldn't see,' Remus watched with one eyebrow raised. "Oh, hell to the no," He said while watching our teacher show Lyla the proper way to use a telescope. They were rather close and Sirius and I looked at each other before laughing.

"Bow chicka, wow wow."

* * *

Amulet Girl's Note: Well, kids, wasn't that just splendid? Personally, I am so excited as to what's going to be happening next and I can't wait to get started on it! And how about that new character? He's going to be a whole bunch of fun. Well, please leave a review and I will have the chapter up as soon as I can.

Peace and Love


	24. The Whole Truth

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, we don't own any of the Harry Potter world, we just like to live in it.

AN: Hello dear people of Fan Fiction! School is winding down for the semester and I couldn't be happier. Once on break, we should hopefully be able to crank out a few chapters. I hope you enjoy this chapter that I have put together for you and please don't forget to review. We love hearing from all of you! Hope you all are well!

Amulet Girl

* * *

The Whole Truth (and nothing but)

Lyla's Point of View

"All I'm saying is that he's dead freaking sexy," Alexa said for the nine hundredth time since our first class with Professor Wolfe. We were walking back to the common room for breakfast, and I for one was so happy it was Saturday and I didn't have to worry about classes and listening to people's incessant chatter. It was getting a bit ridiculous lately. The only thing anybody talked about anymore was Professor Wolfe. The girls talked about how beautiful he was and the boys talked about what a tool he was. Frankly, I didn't care. Sure, he was good looking, but he is a teacher!

"Alexa," I scolded my own sister, who was definitely one of those annoying love drunk girls.

"Oh, come on Lyls, you know he's hot. And to say you don't is a lie!" Alexa said as we neared the portrait hole.

"Alex, he is a teacher, it is completely inappropriate to talk about a teacher in such a manner," I informed her, somewhat avoiding the question.

"Maybe," Alexa said shrugging her shoulders, clearly not affected by certain lines that should not be crossed, "But, you didn't really answer my question did you dear sister?" She raised her eyebrows at me calling me out.

"Whatever," I said stubbornly.

"Hah!" Blair projected. "You totally think he's hot. It's okay, we all do," she said patting me on my back. I shook my head, smiling. "It is perfectly fine to think of a teacher that way," Blair said stopping me with her hand and leaning closer to me with a concerned look on her face. "Teachers are people too." Alexa and Blair burst out laughing.

"Persnickety," I said to the Fat Lady, completely disregarding my cackling friends. The portrait swung open and I quickly continued through. "You two are wild," I told them.

"Wild, and proud of it," Alexa said back to me. "Speaking of being wild, if I had been in your situation they other night, I would have been going wild on the inside!"

"What are you even talking about?" I asked as I led the way to our usual couches. "What situation?"

"I'm talking about the other night in Astronomy when the lovely professor took you, the injured baby bird, under his wing, and gave you a personal lesson on how to use a telescope," Alexa enlightened me swinging his arm around me and forcing my head onto her shoulder stroking my hair.

"Oh. My. Gosh. Get off me," I said pulling my head off her shoulder and shirking her arm off. "First off, the things that you think of just blow my mind and second, that whole scenario you just painted is completely inaccurate."

"Disagree," Alexa said pointing her finger in my face. "He was practically fondling you. I saw it, Blair saw it, and you _felt_ it." She made this weird awkward gesture and I just had to look away in shame.

"You are so delusional," I informed my freak of a sister.

"Disagree," she repeated. "I don't even know why you're trying to fight this. I would be embracing it; all six foot, three inches of that beautiful rock hard body." Alexa's eyes were glazed over and she was fantasizing off in space. Blair cleared her throat and effectively brought Alexa out of her trance. She blinked her eyes and started fanning herself. "Whew! That was steamy."

"You're words are delicious" Blair said laughing. "While Alexa may get a bit inappropriate at times," Alexa nodded her head and smiled in acceptance, "she has a valid point. Professor Wolfe seemed to be getting a little bit too friendly with you."

"I still think you guys are full of crap. Professor Wolfe was just helping after Peter assaulted me with his telescope," I said. The look on Alexa and Blair's face made me realize what I had just said.

"Wow…," Alexa said opening her eyes up wide. I went to explain myself, but of course Alexa cut me off. "No, stop right there. No need to explain, you've said enough."

"You know what I meant," I said sternly, trying to fight back the smile that was creeping to my lips. "Let's just drop it, shall we?"

"Fine, fine, fine," Alexa surrendered. "Moving on. So, where are the boys?"

"What boys?" Sirius asked scaling the back of the couch and jumping down next to Alexa. The other three boys followed suit and took their seats.

"Oh, well, my other boyfriend. It's not a big deal or anything," Alexa said very nonchalantly.

"Your other boyfriend, huh?" Sirius asked curiously. "And who might this other guy be? Do I know him?"

"First name Professor, last name Wolfe," Alexa said with a devious smile on her face. "He basically wants me and I simply can't help that. The love we have is real and can't be described in words," she explained holding her hands to her heart.

James started laughing. "First name Professor? Really?" James asked.

"Shut up," Alexa said annoyed with James's criticism. "I can't help the fact that I don't know his first name."

"You're right, that does sound like true love," James mocked.

"I am so freaking tired of this guy," Sirius said angrily. "All I ever freaking here anymore is, 'Professor Wolfe this. Professor Wolfe that. This guy is already pissing me off and he hasn't even been here for a full week."

"Jealous, Black?" Alexa asked wrapping Sirius's arms around her tighter.

"What of it? I mean, I won't lie, the guy is fairly attractive and he has that older man, off limits appeal. How am I supposed to compete with that?!" Sirius asked in a panic.

Alexa looked up adoringly at Sirius and her face had an 'Aww' expression upon it. "You don't have to compete with him, Sirius." She leaned in, whispered something in his ear, and then placed a kiss on his cheek. Sirius smiled and then returned her kiss but on her lips.

We heard someone bounding down the dormitory stairs and we turned to see who the person was. Almost as if he had radar for assembled groups that hated him, and felt the need to intrude upon all of them, there appeared Caradoc. The fact that he even had the balls to show his face in the common room was phenomenal. "Douche bag approaching," Sirius mumbled as we all whipped our heads back around as if we weren't totally staring.

Caradoc stopped at the foot of the stairs, seeing us he hesitated. He worked up the courage to move. Turning his head from us a bit he continued on toward us. When he was right next to us, James sat up. "Dearborn?" he asked.

Caradoc stopped and then turned to face us. "Potter, good to see you put back together," Caradoc said, clearly showing guilt on his face.

"Yeah, no thanks to you," James said bitterly. "Caradoc, I know what you did and frankly, I'm a little pissed about it."

"James, no offense, but you don't even know the whole story," Caradoc said boldly.

James sat there for a moment. He looked down at his lap, let out a deep breath, and the looked back to Caradoc. "I want you off the team," he said plainly. "From this day forward, you are no longer a member of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and you never will be again. If I ever see you on my pitch again, I will personally kick your ass."

"You have got to be kidding me," Caradoc said, shocked.

"No, Caradoc, I'm not kidding. In fact, I'm being extremely serious. You don't play Quidditch and as far as I'm concerned, you aren't even a Gryffindor."

"This is ridiculous. I am sorry for what I did. Yes, it was wrong, but I don't think I should have to give up Quidditch."

"Let me ask you something, Caradoc. You say you are sorry for what you did, but have you turned yourself in?" James asked. Caradoc sat there in silence. "That's what I thought. If you don't turn yourself in by the end of the day on Monday, I will rip you a new one."

"It wasn't just me and you know it. The whole Ravenclaw team was behind it as well, they are the ones who really implicated the whole thing." Caradoc tried to reason.

"Caradoc, I don't give a damn what the Ravenclaw team does. You are a fellow Gryffindor; you're supposed to be one of us and you betrayed that, and now you must suffer for it," James told him. "End of the day on Monday, or else."

Caradoc turned in frustration and disappeared from the common room. After he left, no one wanted to be the first to break the silence. Alexa being the beautiful person that she is took it upon herself to save us from the burden of quietness. "Well, that was tense," she said.

"Right you are my dear," Sirius agreed wholeheartedly.

All of a sudden, the thru traffic in the common room increased. As various students came and went one little third year approach us, making a beeline for James. "Mr. Potter, Madame Pomfrey would like you to report to the hospital wing for your follow up," the young boy nervously rattled off.

"Thank you," James said as the third year scurried away. "Well, wish me luck. I find out if I can play Quidditch or not."

"Luck!" Alexa, Blair, and I yelled in support. Blair gave him a hug and then he got up off the couch and anxiously headed off toward the hospital wing. "Oh, I hope he can play," Blair said quietly. "He has been so restless being cooped up."

"Yeah, that's for sure," Sirius said. "We need him back on the field not only so we can win but also, if he doesn't find a way to get all his energy out, he is going to drive me crazy!"

"Stop being so insensitive," Alexa scolded, hitting Sirius in the back of his head. "The poor boy's been in a coma, cut him some slack."

"Sorry dear," Sirius said rubbing his head. "But he really is getting a bit annoying. He constantly wants to do something; we can't just have a chill moment. Before, he would always be somewhat worn out from Quidditch, but now, all that energy is pent up."

"I think he just misses the team a lot and wants to get back to normal," Remus offered. "Can't say that I blame him. A little bit of normalcy in our lives could probably do us some good." We all laughed at the truth in that statement.

"Mr. Lupin, are you trying to say that we aren't normal?" Alexa asked in a hurt tone.

"Alex, we are probably some of the most messed up people the halls of Hogwarts have ever seen. I mean look at us, we have a werewolf," he said quietly motioning to himself, "three animagi, you and Sirius hated each other and now you're dating, the emotional rollercoaster we've been on is enough to make even the toughest guys sick, and we're all just a bit off beat."

Alexa sat there taking in everything Remus had said. Remus was right; we were a strange group of people. But, that's why I loved us. No one could ever predict what was going to happen next with us, not even we could predict it. "Fair enough," Alexa said, finally accepting our weirdness. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the same third year that had entered earlier to deliver a message to James. Alexa seeing him too said, "Who is this kid?" I just shrugged my shoulders as the boy stopped in front of us.

"Mr. Potter requires that you all report to the Quidditch pitch. He stresses that it is urgent." We all just looked at the boy with odd expressions.

"Is James paying you to be his lackie or something?" Sirius asked eyeing the boy.

"Oh, why of course not. Mr. Potter has so graciously let me be his assistant, I would never ask anything of him," the little boy said joyfully his eyes filling with excitement and life at the mention of James's name.

"James is absolutely phenomenal," Sirius said shaking his head and pulling himself up off the couch. We all did the same and followed the little third year, whose name was Michael, out of the common room. "Now, Michael, let me ask you this; are there any young strapping lads like yourself that would have the dying need to be my assistant?" Alexa's mouth dropped and she quickly hit Sirius shaking her head. "I'm just curious," he said quietly to her.

"Certainly, Mr. Black. It would be a privilege to assist any of the Marauders. The legends and the stories about you all are truly inspiring." Wow, people looked up to them _way_ too much. And for them to hear this was never a good thing, it all went straight to their already largely inflated heads.

Remus and Sirius exchanged looks of interest and I quickly stepped in. "I don't think so Mr. Lupin. You guys don't need any assistance, you are perfectly capable of doing things on your own," I told him.

"You're right," Remus said smiling. "If I ever need help with anything I'll just go to you," he said coyly and I blushed.

Sirius smiled, "I like the angle you're taking Moony. Alexa will you be my assistant?" he asked wiggling his eyebrows.

"Dream on," she said dryly looking straight ahead. I covered my mouth to stifle my giggle.

"Well, young Michael, it seems that I will be in need of an assistant after all. Float my name around with your mates and then bring me a list of applicants," Sirius said to young Michael.

"Right away, Mr. Black," Michael willingly submitted.

As we exited the castle I said, "Michael, thank you for what you've done, but I think we can manage from here."

"Oh, but, miss, I was told to bring you to the pitch," he said not wanting to abandon his task.

"I admire your tenacity, but you may go Michael." When he was still resistant to leave I said, "I will be sure to inform Mr. Potter of what a great job you're doing," I told him. Almost immediately a huge toothy grin spread across his face. He nodded his head and then ran back inside.

"He was so precious," Blair gushed as she followed Michael with her eyes.

"It's child labor," Alexa said, disgusted. "Sirius, you are never to do anything like that, do you understand me?"

"But, Alexa, James gets to have one," Sirius whined as we neared the Quidditch pitch.

"If James jumped off a bridge would you do it too?" she asked as if she was the mother and Sirius was her child.

"Yeah, probably," he said honestly, bringing smiles to all of our faces except Alexa's, whose eyes narrowed.

"Regardless, you just forget about it, and I am going to have a talk with James about it as well," she told him, ending that particular conversation.

"Fine," Sirius said pouting. We continued on in the brisk February weather. When we entered onto the pitch, the Gryffindor team was on the ground semi-circled around James.

"Oh, hey guys!" James yelled to us, waving us over. We went over and said our hellos to the team. "Okay, we are going to have a short practice today. Everyone head to the locker rooms to change up and then report back out here." The team nodded and headed off toward the locker rooms.

As the team took off Blair said, "So what did Madame Pomfrey say?" Blair asked apprehensively.

James's face saddened a bit. Oh no, I could already tell this was going to be bad. "Well, she said I still couldn't play. But she gave me permission to come out and coach. I can fly around to instruct the team, but by no means am I allowed playing time."

"James, I'm so sorry," Blair said pulling James into a sympathetic hug. He returned her hug and rubbed her back. It almost seemed as if Blair was more upset about the news than James was.

"It's okay. At least I can coach again," he said, truly showing that he had accepted the terms Madame Pomfrey had given him.

"Um, James," Sirius said, "Not to put a damper on things, but since you can't play we are going to need another chaser and we are in need of a keeper."

The expected worrisome James never surfaced. Instead, James just smiled. "I am very aware of that Sirius, and I think I have come up with a plan."

"Really? And what is that?" Sirius asked.

"Well, dear Padfoot, in thinking of the keeper position, I thought to myself, 'The choice is obvious'," James said turning on the imaginary light bulb above his head. We all gave James questioning stares. "Tell me, when we play Quidditch at my house who always ends up playing the keeper?" Sirius smiled and slowly turned his head toward Remus. I felt Remus's arm around my shoulder tense up and I saw his eyes open wide.

"James, I can't," he said quickly. "I mean… I'm… I'm… not even that good," he stuttered.

"Moony, I think with a bit of practice you could be just as good as Caradoc, maybe even better," James encouraged.

"Prongs, I just don't think I can," he said regretfully.

"Please, for me," James said laying on the guilt trip.

Remus looked down at me in worry. I gave his torso a squeeze and threw him a heartening smile. He looked back to James, "But who will do the commentating?"

"Lyla can do it," James said to my surprise. "She is privy to the game and she would do a wonderful job." I gave James a grateful smile.

Clearly seeing no way out of this, Remus said, "Okay, fine, but I apologize in advance if we lose."

"You'll do brilliant mate, don't worry about it," Sirius said clapping Remus on the back. "That still leaves your position," he reminded James.

"Yes, yes. Now, this one was a bit more difficult. I racked and racked my brain for the answer to this one. I thought that it was hopeless at one point, not one person I thought of was adequate. Then, yet again, an epiphany," James said pointing up to the heavens. "Alexa."

I'm convinced the whole world stopped still when James spoke Alexa's name. "Yeah?" Alexa asked clearly not getting it.

"No, Alexa, you're who I thought of," he told her.

Finally sharing the surprise that we all already had she said, "What the hell?"

"It's perfect," James said. "I saw you over Christmas holidays playing with your uncle in the backyard, you've got good form."

"James, I don't think you were looking quite close enough that day," she said still in shock. "I am the clumsiest person in this school. I trip over stationary items." I know that's right. She really was the clumsiest person I had ever seen. When we were little and our parents enrolled us in ballet, she was kicked out before our first performance. She tripped over her own feet, knocked three other girls down, and one of them broke her leg. It was not pretty.

"You may be clumsy on the ground, but in the air, you're graceful and fluent," he told her.

Alexa smiled when he said this, "Really?"

"Yes, Alex. You are a good flier. And just like Remus, I just think you need a bit of training."

"I don't know James. It is very likely that I could end up accidentally hurting others," she said.

"Yeah, come on James, you can't be serious about all this," Sirius said, a worried look on his face.

Alexa quickly turned on him and her face hardened. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked angrily. Sirius, realizing the stupidity of his words, made an attempt to save his ass, but Alexa was going to allow no such thing. "You don't think I can do it? You think I'll just make a fool of myself?"

Sirius looked to me, Remus and Blair to rescue him, but we all knew better. "No, it's not that. It's just, umm… You said it yourself, you are prone to clumsiness."

Alexa stared him down for a few minutes and then turned back to James. "I'll do it," she said firmly. James smiled and pulled her into a hug.

"Okay, you three," he said pointing to Remus, Sirius, and Alexa, "go get changed. Remus borrow some clothes from Sirius and Alexa get some from Carry." Alexa turned sharply and stomped off, with her arms folded, toward the locker rooms. Remus and Sirius followed timidly. I could already tell that this was going to be a disaster. Not that I doubt any of their skills, it's just Alexa and Sirius on the team together just shouted disaster. As Blair and I made our way toward the stands, I gave James a good luck pat on the back and then quickly got off the field.

* * *

"I am going to throw myself off the Astronomy Tower," Alexa complained as she threw herself onto her bed. Why the suicidal tendency? Well, needless to say, Quidditch practice went just as I expected. Remus faired quite well, but when it came to Alexa it was a bit stickier. It's not that she wasn't good, it's just Alexa is quite used to doing what people tell her. She doesn't quite comprehend the whole captain thing. She also wasn't quite prepared for quidditch Captain James. James yelled at her; she didn't take it too well. Sirius yelled at her; she really didn't take it well. She yelled back at Sirius; James yelled at them both and then practice was ended early. Not to boast, but, I called it!

"Alexa, stop being a baby," I told her, Blair and I exchanged a smile as we took a seat on my bed.

"No," Alexa said into her pillow. She was spread out on her bed, her nasty sweaty clothes still on.

"Yes," Blair told her simply. "Now, go hop in the shower, clean yourself up, and get dressed. We are doing something with the boys tonight and we are going to have fun."

"Uh, uh," she said shaking her head still buried in her pillow. "I never want to speak to either of them ever again."

Blair and I rolled our eyes simultaneously. "Alexa Noel Parker, you get up off your ass right now. We are going to have a good time tonight. You are going to put earlier today behind you and have a good night," I instructed.

"But I don't want to," she said turning her head to see us.

"Don't care," I told her. "Now, go." I pointed to the bathroom and raised one of my eyebrows. Alexa fake cried for a moment and then rolled off her bed. She stomped all the way to the bathroom in protest.

"I will go tonight, but I refuse to have fun," she informed us right before she slammed the door.

"What a baby!" Blair joked.

After taking the longest shower that any human being has ever taken and taking her dear sweet time getting ready, Alexa was finally ready to go. "Wow, you're finally ready?" I asked sarcastically.

"Define ready," she retorted. I gave her a sweet smile and swung my arm around her.

"Come on, let's go," I told her pulling her toward the staircase to descend to the common room where the boys were patiently waiting.

"I just want to make it perfectly clear that I am still mad at them. You two are my witnesses," she told us as we reached the bottom step. When we emerged into the common room, standing a few feet away was Sirius holding a single beautiful pink lily. Blair and I gave Sirius a smile as he approached Alexa and as we maneuvered around him to go stand with James and Remus.

"Hey," he said sweetly, smelling the flower and half smiling.

"Hey," she said back acting like she didn't even care.

He kept moving closer. "I just want to say that I'm sorry about earlier. I was way out of line, and I'm sorry." Alexa closed the distance even more and slowly reached her hand out and took the beautiful pink flower. She smelled it and then walked past Sirius. Sirius followed her and said, "So, am I forgiven?" he asked.

Still walking away she said, "Do you even have to ask?" Sirius smiled and quickly ran to catch up to her. He wrapped both his arms around her and kissed her on the cheek.

"Well, now that that's settled, may we proceed with the evening as planned?" James asked, an annoyed tone underlining his voice. We all nodded our heads as he led the way.

"And where exactly are we going this evening, Mr. Potter?" Blair asked as she hooked arms with him.

"This evening, I thought it would just be nice to relax and hang out in the Room of Requirement," James said as we exited through the portrait hole.

"Sounds splendid," Blair said.

"Speaking of Mr. Potter," Alexa said, "James, you need to stop using that poor little Michael as your personal slave."

"Alex, he helps me because he wants to, therefore, by definition, he is not a slave," James said all scholar like.

"James, he doesn't know any better. He thinks 'Oh great, I get to do stuff with James and the Marauders, aren't I cool' and it's not nice," she berated, her anger building.

"But it does make him cool," James said. "We are breeding the next generation of Marauders. Someone has to take over the legacy when we're gone. Granted, no one will ever be able to live up to our awesomeness but who are we to keep them from trying?"

"You guys are unbelievable," Alexa said dropping the subject. The Room of Requirement was adorned with multiple bean bags and cushions. A fire was burning and there were various treats for us to eat. We all plopped down on the floor and made ourselves comfortable. "So, what now?" Alexa asked as she laid her head in Sirius's lap.

Sirius smiled and struggled to get something out of his front pocket of his jeans. "I thought that maybe," he said still fidgeting with his pocket, "we could test this stuff out before we use it." He finally was able to free the object from his pocket. In his hand, twinkling in the light of the fire, was the small vile of veritisserum.

"Umm, Sirius, I don't think that would be a good idea," I said, foreseeing the disaster that would spring forth. "You know this is going to go badly," I told Remus who was holding me from behind.

"Doesn't it always?" he asked.

"Well, don't you think we should stop him?" I asked.

"There's really no point. We won't be able to stop him," he said shaking his head in a knowing way. Instead of trying to put an end to this obvious mistake, I just decided to sit back and watch it explode. At least I could maybe get some enjoyment out of this.

"Rubbish; I think it's brilliant," James said waving his hand. He grabbed the vile. "Okay, everyone take a small sip. Bottoms up." He uncorked the vile and brought it up to his lips. He took a tiny sip and then passed it to Blair on his right. The vile made its way around the circle and we all had a taste. "So how long should this last?" Sirius asked, moving his tongue to try and figure out what the taste was.

"Well, for that amount, it should probably last for a couple of hours," I told him. The serum left the most atrocious taste in your mouth. It tasted as if I had just eaten one of James's socks after quidditch practice. Ugh! And the texture was like that of a slimy worm; not pleasant.

"Let's test this stuff then," Sirius said with a twinkle in his eye. "James, I will ask you a simple question; try to lie so we can see if it will let you." James nodded his head and prepared himself for the question. "What is your name?" Sirius asked.

"S…," James started to say. He stopped and relaxed his mouth. "Sir…," he tried again, but he couldn't speak. "Re…. James," he finally got out. "Holy crap, that was hard. It's like I couldn't tell a lie."

"Well, I guess we know it works," Alexa said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Let's make this more interesting," Sirius said slyly. "Let's ask each other a few questions and we'll have to tell the truth. We'll have to be completely honest with each other." Could he be any more stupid?! I instinctively shook my head. How come no one else could see where this was going? Someone was going to say something stupid, most likely Sirius or Alexa, then the other person would get mad, they would break up, again, and then we'd start the whole freaking cycle all over again.

Remus jumped in and mirrored my thoughts, "Padfoot, that probably wouldn't be good."

"Do you not think we should be honest with each other?" Sirius asked, trying to play to Remus's good-natured personality.

"No, not at all; I think honesty is a good thing but there are just some things that you shouldn't share," he explained.

"Nonsense," Sirius said, dismissing Remus's concern.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Remus responded, giving up on his plight. "Okay, we'll start off with an easy one," Sirius said. "Who here thinks I'm beautiful?" I wanted to say no, don't get me wrong, but my hand just raised itself up. It's not that I think Sirius is hot, he's just good looking, I can't deny it. I looked around and in addition to me, Alexa, Blair, and James all raised their hands. We all gave James a weird look.

"What can I say, I think he is a beautiful man," James said, not the least bit ashamed.

Blair shook her head. "Put your hand down," she said sternly. James slowly put his hand down, as did the rest of us. He gave Blair a smile and leaned in for a hug. She quickly stuck up her hands and pushed him away. "Uh, uh," she told him, "I can't look at you the same way ever again." James threw his hands over his heart and fell backward onto the pillows, faking his death. "Oh, please," she mumbled.

Remus was giving me this smartass half smile when I looked over at him. "You think he's beautiful do you?" he asked me.

"He has good hair," I said honestly. Remus laughed and pulled me closer to him, rubbing my arm.

"So my hair isn't good enough for you?" he teased, giving me a hurt look.

"I love your hair," I said, leaning back into him and running my hands through his hair. "I love everything about you." He smiled at me, "Good save," he said. He leaned down and captured my lips in a kiss. Our lips moved together with ease, and we got so carried away that I completely forgot that there were other people in the room.

"Okay, if you guys are done sucking each other's faces, we can move past these kiddy questions and get to the nitty gritty," Alexa said rubbing her hands together mischievously. Her eyes brightened with an idea. "Okay, here's a question that we've all had suspicions about for some time and we would all like a little truth." She looked over at Blair and James. "James, Blair, do you guys still heart each other?"

We all waited anxiously for their answer. James and Blair looked at each other, waiting for the other one to speak first. James cleared his throat, looking into Blair's eyes. "I have always loved Blair," he said a bit quietly. "Even after we broke up, I just knew that I had made the biggest mistake of my life. Anytime I saw you with someone else, I got so jealous, and I wanted to punch the guy out." James paused for a minute to compose himself. "I even followed one guy that you had been talking to and I threatened him."

Blair was smiling up at him. Tears were on the verge of spilling forth. "I never stopped loving you either," she whispered, trying to hide the quiver in her voice. Blair reached over and gently took James's hands in hers.

"Really?" James asked hopefully, intertwining his fingers with hers.

"I can't really lie, can I?" she joked. He laughed and then leaned in and placed a tender kiss on her lips. The rest of us erupted in applause. Blair and James pulled apart and Blair smiled bashfully when she saw our joyous faces watching them.

"Finally!" Sirius shouted in approval. "Okay, okay, enough of this mushy crap, someone ask another question.

"Alright, let's see," James said tapping his finger on his chin. "Did you and Bree have sex?" Ouch. That was a low blow. Sirius looked at Alexa who was staring down at her fingers.

"Oh, come on," she said popping in. "Let's ask questions that we don't already know the answer to." She looked over at me and I gave her a weak smile, assuring her that it was going to be okay.

"No," Sirius said. "Bree and I never had sex."

Alexa whipped her head up and looked at Sirius in surprise. "What? Why not?" she asked. Well, this was the shocker of the century. Who would've guessed it?

"I thought you'd be happy that we didn't," Sirius said with a bit of a smile.

"Oh, no, I am; it's just, I thought…," Alexa said. "But why?" she asked again. She kept shaking her head in confusion.

"I was in love with another girl," he said giving her a smile. Okay, my heart literally melted. All this cuteness was proving to be too much. I did an internal 'aww' and looked up at Remus to make sure he was seeing this adorable scene.

"Are you seeing this?" I whispered excitedly to Remus, hitting him in the chest and pointing to Alexa and Sirius. Remus nodded his head. "Did you hear what he said? He said that he's in love with her," I told him.

"Lyla, I know, I am sitting right here. I can here them," he said a bit frustrated with my over excitement and prodding. "Now be quiet or you're going to miss something," he instructed. I fake zipped my lips and quickly turned back to Alexa and Sirius.

Alexa put her hands on either side of Sirius's face. She pulled his face to hers and right before their lips met Alexa whispered, "I love you." Remus and James looked at each other and started laughing a bit, like immature boys. Sirius broke their kiss and turned on his best mates. "Oh, shove off, both of you." This only made them laugh more. "Okay, well two can play this game Moony. Have you and Lyla had sex?"

I looked up at Remus who was now holding my hand and moving the ring he had given me back and forth. Maybe if neither of us said anything, it wouldn't count as lying. The honest answer was yes, but I didn't really want to have to explain why I never told Alexa and Blair. I looked over at Alexa whose eyes were narrowed on me. Her eyes immediately opened wide and her mouth dropped. Crap. Damn my obvious emotions.

"You have!" she exclaimed. "Lyla, I can tell by your eyes! Don't you dare try to hide this," she said. If I closed my eyes as Alexa talked just then, I could have sworn it was my mother.

"Fine," I said covering my face. I parted my fingers to see if Alexa was less angry, but no such luck. She was just shaking her head.

"That's my boy!!" James and Sirius shouted simultaneously, giving each other a high five. "That's how we get it done," Sirius said pointing over to Remus and nodding his head wildly. God, they were such guys.

"You lied to us!" Blair shouted, just as furious as Alexa.

"What? No I didn't," I quickly corrected.

"Yes you did!" Alexa said. "The other day, you said that you and Remus weren't intimate in 'that way'," she stated using air quotes. I thought back in my memory bank to see if I could recall this.

"Well, you were talking about all this weird kinky stuff and we're not like that," I said trying to weasel my way out. James and Sirius's eyes widened even more at the mention of the word kinky. I swear if their eyes opened anymore they were literally going to pop out of their sockets.

"Oh, no, no, no," she said wagging her finger. "You blatantly lied to us. Admit it, little Miss Lyla lied." She said this as if she had been anxiously waiting for the day that she could call me out on something like this.

"Okay, so maybe I did," I said throwing my hands up. "I don't have to tell you everything. Besides that's something very personal."

"Don't care," Alexa said. "We are supposed to share all that kind of stuff, we're sisters and Blair is your best friend. We are like one unified body, us three. What one of us knows, the rest of us also have to know; it's what God intended, why do you think he created best friends?"

"I know, I know. I'm sorry. Can you forgive me?" I asked doing the puppy dog face that I knew she couldn't resist. She pointed her finger at me, biting back her words. Alexa looked to Blair who nodded her head. "I promise to tell you everything, within reason, from now on."

"Okay, fine, we forgive you," she said with a smile. "We'll discuss this later." She threw me a wink and then laughed. "But just know, if you keep anything like this from us again, we have permission to kick your ass." I went to disagree but she jumped in before I could. "Glad you agree."

"Moony, mate, James and I would like to extend our congratulations" Sirius said reaching across the circle to shake Remus's hand. "And Lyla, to you too; for making our little Moony here a man." I took Sirius's hand as my face blushed with fire. Remus squeezed my shoulders and kissed the top of my head. "I can remember when Moony was just a wee tyke; I had to explain to the poor bloke what a girl even was. You see, even as a first year, I was well beyond my years," Sirius said looking up to the ceiling, reminiscing. "I taught him everything he knows. It's just so…," Sirius brought his fist up to his mouth to choke back fake tears. "So beautiful to see the student becoming the master."

Alexa was shielding her eyes in shame. "Just shut up," she pleaded. "Please, just close your mouth this one time."

The time passed quickly as we sat around asking each other completely ridiculous questions and learning some things about one another that frankly, I wish I wouldn't have ever had to know. I can't even repeat some of them to myself. As my head rested on Remus's shoulder, I could feel my eyelids wanting to slide shut. I was tired and it had to be late. "Are you falling asleep?" Remus asked intuitively, brushing a few loose strands of hair from my face. I nodded my head and snuggled in closer to his warm body. "Come on, let's get you to bed." He shifted my sleepy body off him so he could get up and then lifted me up as well. "We should probably head back, it's getting late and we're all tired." Everyone mumble sleepy agreements and reluctantly moved from their comfortable spots on the floor.

"What time is it anyway?" Alexa asked as she leaned up against Sirius's back, her eyes half closed.

James looked down at his watch and said, "It's almost eleven." Man, we had been in here for a little over two hours.

"Shit," Remus cursed under his breath. "We are going to have to be super careful going back, it's way past curfew." We all immediately woke ourselves up to have the optimal alertness we would need to make it back to the common room without getting caught.

Sirius stepped up to take the lead. "Okay, everyone just stay extremely quite and follow me." Sirius slowly opened the door leading out into the corridor. He stuck his head out to see if anyone was there and then motioned that the coast was clear.

One by one we cautiously filed out of the Room of Requirement and slowly followed Sirius down the deserted hall. I was either just extremely tired or I was going crazy, because the amount of paranoia I was experiencing was unreal. With every step I took, I could have sworn that somebody was following us. I'm almost for sure I heard some voices too. Who knows, but either way, every adjacent corridor we passed brought on a whole new panic attack. I'm usually never this paranoid, but for some reason I was freaking out.

We were getting closer to Gryffindor tower, once there I would be put at ease. Just a bit further. "Well, hello there," someone said from the darkness. We halt came to a startling stop. Oh crap! Really? Almost back and we get caught; it's like something is out to get us. We all squinted our eyes in the direction of the voice to see who it was. Please just let it be a portrait. What emerged from the shadows was definitely not a portrait. Professor Wolfe stepped out from the shadows. Alexa looked over at me in a panic. "All of you, come with me now," he said turning to lead us to his office I'm sure.

* * *

The slow walk of shame was almost unbearable. For me, this was new. I never got caught doing anything like this; I hardly ever broke the rules. And to get caught by Professor Wolfe was just the icing on the cake. We climbed our way up to the astronomy tower and filed into his office. He closed the door behind us and then circled around us and sat on the edge of his desk. "Would any of you like to explain why you were roaming the halls past curfew?" he asked looking at me. His eyes captured mine and I couldn't look away. He had the most beautiful mesmerizing eyes I had ever seen.

"Well, Professor, we were hanging out and simply lost track of time," Sirius explained. Professor Wolfe broke our eye contact to look at Sirius. "We were on our way back to the common room when you showed up."

"Hmm… I see," he said, noticeably not believing what we were saying. "So where were you hanging out?"

I looked over at Alexa and she looked like she was constipated or something. She had her lips pressed so tight together that the color had drained from that area. "You're fucking sexy!" Alexa word vomited. Her hand flew up to her mouth and her eyes widened. What the hell just happened?! We all turned to face her and gave her a confused shocked expression.

"Miss Parker!" Professor Wolfe exclaimed. "I don't think that was appropriate given you current situation," he said motioning to all of us in his office.

"Professor, I'm sorry," she said shaking her hands. "You see, I took something and it made me say it." Oh. .My. God! She is so stupid!

"Are you trying to tell me that you're on mind altering drugs and that you are presently high?" Professor Wolfe asked bringing his hand up to rub his chin. He just sat there and waited for Alexa to dig herself into a deeper hole.

"Alexa, shut up!" I told her. "You don't have to tell the truth; it would have worn off by now." Alexa's face turned bright red and her mouth dropped. She just shook her head as Professor Wolfe just watched.

"But… but, then why did I just say that?" she attempted to whisper. I shrugged my shoulders and gave her a sympathetic look. "Oh, no. Oh, no." She looked over to Professor Wolfe and went to say something. She must be crazy if she thought I was going to let her speak again.

"Professor," I cut in saving my sister. I stepped in front of Alexa so she could have no chance to screw this up. "I can assure you that Alexa, along with nobody else here, is on drugs. We made some veritisserum and we tried it out on ourselves. That explains Alexa here and what we were doing this evening."

Professor Wolfe stood up from his desk and rubbed his chin, contemplating. "Do you understand that it is illegal to brew veritisserum without the permission from the Minister of Magic?" he asked me. I nodded my head in understanding. "So you understand that if I report this you all would be in a great deal of trouble?" I nodded my head once again. He closed his eyes and nodded his head. He moved around his desk and sat in the large leather chair. I looked back at my dear friends and all of them looked like they were about ready to crap their pants. "Now, while I will not turn you in, I will ask that all of you report here tomorrow evening for detention. I also ask that you turn over the rest of the veritisserum."

"There wasn't any left, we drank it all," I lied the best I could. Professor Wolfe eyed me up and down and then nodded his head.

"Very well then, report here tomorrow at seven sharp. Now, all of you go straight to your dormitories and do not make any side trips," he said sternly. We all turned to leave. As we neared the door Alexa sided up next to me.

"Holy shit, that got tragic real fast," Alexa whispered to me. "We almost just got sent to prison," she said acting like a hard ass.

"You're dumb; we did not almost get sent to prison," I told her rolling my eyes.

"I like to think we did. We're basically felons. But, anyways, on a lighter, sexier note; Professor Wolfe was totally checking you out the whole time. He wants your body," she said in a sultry voice.

"Lyla, could you hold up for just a second?" Professor Wolfe asked just as Remus, Alexa and I were about to leave his office.

"Check and mate," she said winking at me. She continued past Remus and down the stairs. Remus just stood in the doorway and waited.

"Are you coming Lyls?" he asked outstretching his hand for me to take it.

"Well, Professor Wolfe wants to have a word with me," I said pointing to Wolfe over my shoulder.

Remus came back into the office and leaned on the door frame. "I'll just wait," he said looking past me and giving Wolfe a jealous stare.

"You can go ahead if you want," I told him, not really fully understanding what was going on. Why was Remus acting so weird? Loads of teachers ask me to stay behind to have a chat; why was this time any different?

"No," he said definitely, a scowl on his face. "I'll stay and wait for you."

Professor Wolfe moved from behind his desk and came up to stand next to me. "Mr. Lupin, I think it's time for you to return to your dormitory."

"With all do respect, Professor, I would like to wait for my _girlfriend_," Remus said putting extreme emphasis on the word girlfriend. I gave Remus a questioning glance. Why was he being so rude?

"Well, not to worry, Mr. Lupin. I will personally make sure that Ms. Parker gets back safely." Remus's eyes narrowed on Professor Wolfe and he was balling up his fists by his side. "Good night, Mr. Lupin." Professor Wolfe grabbed the door in one of his hands. Remus looked at me as if he expected me to leave with him, but this was no big deal. I mouthed for him not to worry and then Professor Wolfe closed the door on Remus. Right before the door fully closed I saw Remus's face and it looked defeated and angry. I felt Professor Wolfe place his hand on my back and he turned me away from the door and directed me toward the two leather chairs in front of his desk. "Have a seat, Lyla."

I slowly made my way around the small chair and gently sat down. "Professor Wolfe," I began.

Professor Wolfe jumped in as he sat on the corner of the desk right in front of me. "Please, Lyla, call me Luke," he said giving me a smile. I returned his smile and then he continued, "Now, I'm sure you're wondering why I asked you to stay."

I nodded my head. "Well, I actually wanted to apologize, Professor," I said. Professor Wolfe raised his finger to correct me but I quickly took care of it. "Luke." He smiled and nodded.

"Lyla, there is no need to apologize," he said dismissing my notion. "That's actually why I asked you to stay. Lyla, in the first class that you had with me, after the Pettigrew boy assaulted you, and you and I were working with the telescope; I could tell immediately that you were far more emotionally and intellectually mature than your classmates." I smiled to myself and looked down at my hands in my lap. "It was refreshing to see a student of your age have the outlook on life that you have. Some of my friends, who are also twenty, don't have the maturity that you have." I was very confused as to where this conversation was going. "My point is I'm concerned because the people you hang around with don't seem to be the kind of people you should be around." My eyes narrowed in confusion. "You seem like a great girl and I would hate to see you lose that." Wow. Luke was such a great guy. To take such an interest in his students was quite refreshing, and I could really relate to him, more so than any other teacher.

"I will say that while the Marauders can be a bit rambunctious at times, I am very careful never to get influenced too much," I assured him. "They are all really sweet people once you get to know them. I appreciate your concern though," I told him. He smiled. As he looked at me, I couldn't help but notice his beautiful straight white teeth and his shining blue eyes. "You're not like most teachers," I told him speaking freely and analyzing his face.

"I will take that as a complement," he said laughing. "I really want to be here for my students, you know?" I nodded my head, completely understanding. He shifted his body to sit on his other leg and let the other one hang off the side. "I think I can relate to the students more, I think; I understand what they're going through. That's probably because I went through it all myself not to long ago, and I'm still going through some of it." We sat there for a while just looking at each other. When it got to the point where it was a bit uncomfortable, Luke got up from his spot and clapped his hands together.

"Well, if I don't get you back soon, Mr. Lupin will be very upset with me; and I can't have my students upset with me the first week I arrive." He extended his hand to me and I took it. His hands were much bigger than mine, but they had a delicate feel to them. He helped me out of my chair and walked me to the door. He opened the door and motioned for me to move through it.

"Thank you," I said sincerely. "I guess I'll see you in class on Tuesday."

"Oh, Lyla, I really do feel that I should walk you back, I would just feel absolutely terrible if something were to happen." I didn't really know what could happen to me walking back to Gryffindor Tower, but who was I to refuse this act of kindness. After a few moments of walking in silence, Luke spoke. "So, you and your sister, are you two twins?"

This made me smile. "No, I'm actually nine months older than her. Right after my parents had me they got pregnant again and then Alexa came," I explained. Did I really just tell him about my parents' reproductive habits? Good Lord.

"I was going to say, for twins, you are absolutely nothing alike. Even for being sisters, you are almost complete opposites," he said laughing. I joined in the laughter. While Alexa and I shared some traits, for the most part, we were polar opposites.

"Yeah, well, I like to think I got the better genes." He laughed even harder at this.

"You're smart and you're funny, not to mention beautiful; it sounds like you've got the whole package," he said moving his hands in the air from my head down. "Your sister doesn't seem like she's quite there all the time."

"Ha! That's actually not the first time I've heard that," I told him as we turned down yet another dark and deserted corridor. The only light that surrounded us was the light spilling forth from the tip of Luke's wand. "Alexa has her moments, but yes I must admit, she doesn't always have it together; but I love her all the same."

"You have a strong sense of family too," he said taking it all in. I gave him a quizzical look. "I'm just trying to get a read on you," he told me.

I wrinkled my nose. "Okay, well, how about you? Tell me about you," I said nodding to him.

He let out a breath and thought about it. "Wow, well, what do you want to know?" he asked.

"Tell me about your family."

"Let's see, both of my parents are still alive and they still live in the same house that I grew up in just outside of London. I have two older sisters, Emily and Fiona, and a little brother, Joshua." I nodded my head as I listened. "I graduated from Beauxbatons three years ago and here I am." He shrugged his shoulders not knowing what else to say.

"That's it?" I questioned. "That's all there is to you?" He laughed and gave me a 'what can I do?' sort of face. "Come on, keep talking," I egged him. He paused and shook his head not knowing what to share. "Why did you become a teacher?"

Luke rubbed his cheeks. "Now, that's a good question." He thought about it for a moment trying to formulate the perfect response. "Well, I was inspired by my own teachers. I saw how much they helped me and I knew I wanted to help kids too. I started doing a bit of tutoring and the feeling that I felt doing that was the feeling that I wanted all the time." I smiled and held back a laugh. I wasn't laughing at his response really, it was just the look on his face, it was so motivational speaker-ish. He looked over at me trying not to laugh. "Are you laughing at me?" he asked, his eyes opened wide with shock.

I let out a laugh. "I'm sorry, Luke," I said covering my mouth, still laughing. "I'm not making fun of you, it's just your face was priceless."

"So you were making fun of me?"

I bit my bottom lip. "Yeah, I guess I was. But just a little bit."

He began to laugh again and he nudged me with his elbow, "Yeah, yeah, okay. So, tell me, Miss Lyla, what do you want to do once you leave this place?"

"I think I want to be a healer," I told him. He nodded his head and looked impressed. He motioned his hands for me to elaborate. "Well, it's somewhat similar to your story; I just want to help people. I've been playing doctor ever since I was a little girl running around in diapers and I've always been interested in that kind of stuff, so I just kind of put two and two together." Luke started laughing. "And what are you laughing at?" I asked shoving him.

"I'm just picturing a little Lyla running around in a diaper," he said laughing even more. My mouth dropped and I shoved him again. Seeing my blushing cheeks he said, "Don't worry, it's cute." I looked up and saw the Fat Lady before me.

I stopped in front of the Fat Lady and turned to face Luke. "Well, this is me," I said nodding to the Fat Lady. He smiled and nodded his head. I spoke the password to the portrait and the door swung open. I step right inside the entry. "Goodnight, Luke."

"Goodnight, Lyla," he said with a smile and a wave. The portrait door shut and I was alone in the dark entry way. I slowly and quietly made my way into the common room. As I made my way to the stairs to the girl's dormitory, I saw out of my peripheral vision someone on one of the couches in front of a fire. It was Remus. I went over and saw that he was sound asleep. His arm was dangling off the side of the couch and his mouth was open to where I could here the faint noise of his breathing. He looked so peaceful and cute. Not wanting to wake him, I bent over him and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead. I left Remus to sleep and I headed up to my own dormitory to do the same.

I slowly opened the door and carefully watched my feet to make sure I didn't trip on anything in the semi-darkness. I closed the door and tiptoed over to my bed. When I was close enough I looked up from my feet and jumped. "What the…," I gasped clutching my heart from the scare. Sitting on my bed were Alexa and Blair, wide awake. Blair had this crazed smile on her face and Alexa had her upper lip curled under exposing her top set of teeth. "You guys freaking scared me," I said rushing over to turn on the lights. "How long have you guys been sitting there?"

"Let's just put it this way," Alexa said, her lip still curled, "My face is permanently stuck like this." She massaged her face with her hands and her lip wouldn't return to its natural place. "Creepy though, right?" I nodded my head at my dear sister. "Totally worth it," she said. She then took her hands and manually uncurled her lip. Blair stopped smiling in that crazy way and they both made room for me on my bed. I took a seat and grabbed one of the many pillows.

"So, Lyla, Professor Wolfe wanted to have a word with you, eh?" Blair asked raising her eyebrows. "About what, getting into your pants." She and Alexa burst out laughing.

"You guys are crazy, Luke isn't like that," I told them picking the fuzz off the pillow in my lap.

Alexa and Blair exchanged a look. "Oh, hold up. Luke? What is this?" Alexa asked getting quite excited.

"He just told me that I could call him Luke. It's not that big of a deal," I told them. "He's just this down to earth guy, you know. He's really cool. Did you know that he's only like three years older than us? He really understands his students. He's more of a friend than a teacher."

"Okay, okay, alright," Alexa rambled on, reading way more into this whole situation. "So, if he's more of a friend, there's really no problem with thinking that he's totally sexy."

"I did not say that. He is still a teacher no matter what, he just happens to be different than any other teacher we've ever had," I said.

"So, what did he want to talk to you about?" Blair asked again, getting us back on track.

"It was really nothing. He was just saying that I'm a great student and I should be careful with some of the people that I hang out with. He doesn't want me to get into any trouble," I said laughing a bit, realizing how ridiculous it was.

"Wow, that's kind of a douche move, yet sweet that he cares," Alex figured. "And that was it? He just was like see you later?"

"Yeah, I mean, he walked me back to Gryffindor Tower and then I came up here," I said nonchalantly.

Both of their eyes opened. "Wait, he walked you back over here?" Blair asked. "He walked you all the way over to The Fat Lady?"

"Yeah, it's really not that big of a deal," I told them, wondering why they were freaking out so much. Why was everybody freaking out tonight? First Remus, now them.

"Not a big deal!" Alexa exclaimed grabbing my shoulders and shaking me. "That is a _huge_ deal! Lyla, he essentially walked you home."

"Alexa, the whole castle is basically my home," I pointed out. "He was just being polite, and any other teacher would have done the same."

"Do you honestly believe that any other teacher would have walked you back to the common room?" she asked. I mean, yeah, I did think that. He just wanted to make sure I got back safely. "Well, what went on during this midnight stroll?"

"Well, there was a whole lot of walking," I told her sarcastically. She gave me a disapproving look, so I readjusted my attitude. "I mean, we talked as we walked. It's not like we were going to walk all the way over here and not say a word to each other."

"What did you guys discuss?" Alexa asked eagerly.

"He asked me about you," I told her trying to get a reaction out of her.

"Oh, my God! Are you shitting me right now?" she asked. I shook my head. "Holy, crap. What did he ask? Does he want me?"

"He thinks you're pretty hot," I told her trying to keep a straight face as best I could. Blair could obviously tell that I was kidding but Alexa was blinded.

"Really?" she asked hopefully.

"No," I said simply. Alexa narrowed her eyes and shook her head. "So cruel," she whispered. "We just talked about how even though we're sisters, we're pretty different and then he told me about his family and why he became a teacher. Pretty basic stuff."

"And you're still going to try and deny the fact that he totally likes you?" Blair asked.

"Yes!" I said. "I'm going to keep denying it too, because it's simply not true."

"Whatever," Alexa mumbled as she got up off my bed and moved to her own, Blair doing the same. "You just sleep in your denial, and get back to me when you've come to your senses." Blair flicked off the lights and I snuggled deep beneath my blankets to get warm. There is nothing there, I told myself. He is just a friend. A friend and that's it. I know that's it. A good friend. Why should I even listen to them anyway? They're crazy, and even they know it.

* * *

Baby Blue's Note: Okay, let me just clear up the fact that Alexa is not _that_ crazy! When we get chapter images up (if we can ever find the time to put out a request), all you lovely people that read will be able to see the beautiful Professor Wolfe. Props to all of you that get the irony of his name as well. Anyways, please drop us some love if you've read this far. And shameless as I am, tell people about the story if you like it. We're open to all thoughts on what we've done so far so let us know!

Happy Thanksgiving weekend once again; and I'll try to have the next chapter up as soon as I can! Love you guys!


	25. Best Served Cold

Disclaimer: We obviously don't own this, because if we did, our lives wouldn't be nearly as boring.

Blue's Author's Note: Lovelies! It's literally been too long. I apologize most profusely about having this chapter take so long, but I couldn't help it. Not only were there finals that I had to worry about, study for, and then completely not care about, but college applications were due all at once so I was busy with that. Anyways, now that we're on break it should be much easier to have a few more chapters out quicker. And thanks to all those that reviewed, read, or did anything else. You guys help us get through it.

Drop us some love!

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_Best Served Cold_

_Alexa's Point of View_

So obviously, my sister was crazy. If she can't tell that our wonderful, beautiful, intelligent, and dare I say sexy professor, Mr. Wolfe is totally into her than she must be blind. Or she's crazy; either way it is a win-win situation for me. This realization, even if it is just Blair and I that notice, begs some thought though. As we were waiting for our dear little Lyla to return from her walk of shame, Blair and I discussed why it seemed that Professor Wolfe was into her.

Don't get me wrong; my sister is a great person, sometimes a little too nice, but great all the same. And she's a catch for any guy, just ask Remus. However, the fact remains that she is a student and as his name hints, Lucas Wolfe is a professor. This makes whatever is going on there totally against school rules.

Thinking all of this, I looked across the table as Lyla and Remus conversed at breakfast the next day. Remus was still looking a bit sullen from last night's rejection by our aforementioned astronomy teacher. Lyla, however, was going on her merry way about everything and was trying her best to figure out why Remus was in such a bad mood. A slight touch on my arm brought me out of my musings as I looked to my left.

Sirius smiled at me and I felt my lips turn upwards subconsciously. "So like James was saying, we're having practice today after breakfast. Do you think you can handle another practice after yesterdays?" He asked in a challenging manner and I crossed my arms over my chest in an attempt to look tough.

"The real question is do you think that you can handle my awesome skills instead of being a whiny little bitch?" I flicked my eyebrows up once for effect and watched as my loving boyfriend rolled his eyes. Nudging him with my shoulder, I picked up my fork and began to eat my eggs. James, who was sitting on my other side, elbowed me slightly in the stomach.

"Don't be so sure of yourself out there, Alex. You still have to learn how to play with others." James said in a slightly wary voice, thinking back to yesterday's fiasco of a practice. While on the broom, I had 'accidentally' sent Sirius into one of the goal posts because my anger got the better of me when he started yelling at me for holding the quaffle wrong. Who knew that if you threw it hard enough the quaffle was a very dangerous weapon?

I nodded slightly while washing down my food with a drink of juice. "I'll admit that my performance at practice left some to be desired," Setting my glass down; I wiped my mouth and then threw my napkin on top of my plate. "However, I fully intend to make up for it today. You guys won't know what hit you when I don't fight back, or yell, for the entire practice."

At this, Lyla and Remus turned their attention from their squabbling to face us. "The day that you can actually control your emotions around tense situations is the day I dress like an octopus and swim with the Giant Squid." Lyla said with a laugh and I assumed my pouting position again while the rest of my friends laughed on.

"I'll be happy if she just doesn't injure someone today." Remus said while fiddling with his fork. He looked up at me with a slightly devious face and I stuck my tongue out in return. "Please tell me that you haven't forgotten Messer Padfoot's swollen ribs yesterday? Or Tristan's black eye over the holidays?"

"Yes; but I was on land for the last one." I defended while throwing my hands in the air. James let out a noncommittal noise as I looked at him to back me up. Turning to Sirius, who was gingerly feeling his ribs, I slapped him slightly in the bicep. "Come on, I totally said I was sorry about your injury. And I more than made up for it yesterday."

Raising an eyebrow, Sirius turned in his seat to face me. "Not quite remembering that last part, Alex." He quipped and as my hand lifted again, he smiled slowly. "Of course if you were to refresh my memory a little," Trailing off, he acted as if he was leaning in for a kiss before Lyla made a gagging noise and someone mimed throwing up. Sending me a wink, Sirius straightened back up and threw an arm around my shoulders, hugging me to his side.

"I will have to murder you if you do not release me, Black." I said very drolly but made no move to leave from the safeness his arms cocooned me in. We were gazing lovingly into each other's eyes, or at least that's what I was doing, when someone plopped down next to Remus and began shoveling food onto their plate. Breaking my gaze from the steel gray eyes, I looked over to see Blair cramming food into her mouth as fast as she could. "Attractive," Lyla stated as she read her _Witch Wee_k_ly_ from Remus' other side.

"You don't understand your own life right now, Lyls. Give me a second," Blair said through a mouthful of food. I stuck my tongue out in fake sickness before going back to staring at Blair. Washing down her smorgasbord with the rest of Sirius' juice, and ignoring his outcry, she looked up at all of us with wide eyes. "Guess what?"

Looking at each other, James, Sirius, and I all said, "What!" at the same time earning quite a few looks from the people surrounding us. Motioning for us to lean in, Blair stuck her head above our group to see if anyone was listening in. Satisfied that she wasn't going to be overheard, she began to talk again. "So I have on good authority that our favorite Professor was out late last night talking to a mystery girl in the halls." She paused for dramatic effect. "After dropping by the potions store room."

James gasped from next to me while Lyla's face flamed red. "Obviously we know the mystery girl; but what was he doing at the store room? He knows about the veritisserum because Alexa here couldn't keep her thoughts to herself, but he can't think we stole it when we lied so seamlessly." James mused and Blair nodded her head.

"So why would he be down there, right? That's exactly what I was thinking! And, of course, I did some digging. What I found will shock you all." She said while pushing plates out of her way and pulling out a large folder.

"Oh, of course," Sirius mocked while fluttering his eye lashes. Blair sent him a glare, but it didn't seem to faze him as he looked around at us. "Why would we want to know? I'm not saying anything against your detective skills, Winchester, but does this guy really look like someone we should be worried about? I mean, really, the guys a tool."

We all discreetly looked up at the teacher's table; and by discreetly I mean it was obvious as we openly gaped at Professor Wolfe. When he turned as if feeling our stares, we whipped back around as if we hadn't been talking about him. Sirius shrugged his shoulders as if he was obviously right and everyone seemed to debate with themselves for a moment.

Remus, surprisingly, was the first person to speak up. "What do you have on him?" He asked while leaning back in to the middle while Blair nodded excitedly and leafed through the folder. "Remus!" Lyla and Sirius both cried out while looking at their friend. He only shrugged while taking a closer look at what Blair had laid on the table.

"Alright, well, according to the Nearly Headless Nick, Professor Lucas Wolfe graduated in 1973 from Beauxbatons Academy in France. He originally applied for an apprenticeship at an Apothecary after gradation, but most places weren't employing new people so he went with odd jobs before settling on working at an observatory." She said in a scholarly voice. I picked up a piece of paper that looked like a graduation certificate before placing it down again.

"Fascinating stuff, Blair, but I don't see what this has to do with him roaming the halls late at night. I have to agree with Sirius here; if there's nothing to worry about then I don't need to know his past." I said in an apologetic voice while Sirius leaned back from our group and placed his head in one of his hands as he leant on the table.

With a lengthy sigh, Blair opened her mouth to rebuttal but Lyla's slight scream stopped her and had us looking at my sister. "He's getting up and walking over here. Hide the stuff!" She exclaimed. Eyes wide, we all shuffled to put things back into the folder and act very normal as Professor Wolfe came up on the table. "Professor!" Lyla said in a breathy voice when he stopped just behind James.

"Good morning, guys. I just wanted to remind you all of detention tonight," He looked around at all of us, fake smiles plastered on our flushed faces while Sirius looked bored, James rolled his eyes, and Remus glared. "Are you all okay?" Nodding enthusiastically, Blair, Lyla, and I assented to his question.

"We're perfectly fine, _Professor_." Remus said in what was probably the snidest voice I'd ever heard him use with a teacher. Professor Wolfe looked taken aback for a moment before brushing an imaginary piece of fuzz of his amazingly form fitting sweater. I mean, dang; he has to work out!

"Excellent; then I'll see you all at seven sharp." He turned to walk away but before he turned completely he looked back over his shoulder. "And Mr. Black, no fondling Ms. Parker at the breakfast table. It's bad manners." As soon as he was out of hearing range, Sirius threw his hands up in the air.

"That guy is a total prick! He freaking has it out for me." Running his hands through his hair, Sirius glared daggers at the back of Professor Wolfe's blonde head as it disappeared out the doors. "I'll fondle whomever I want, thank you." He muttered under his breath.

"Unless you want more than your ribs swollen you will rethink that statement," I said sweetly while Sirius looked back to me and smiled innocently. "I don't even know what the big deal is anyways; sure he's drop dead gorgeous," Sirius let out a cry of protest so I raised my voice to talk over him, "But he's a teacher. And I'm pretty sure that the Hogwarts frowns upon student teacher relationships."

We sat around the table while the rest of the Great Hall went on with their conversations and thought about that bit of information. "While that may be true I think it's just the fact that he's new and people want to talk about him." Blair said while putting her folder back in her bag and finishing her breakfast. James nodded along and took one last bite of his toast before he got up from his seat.

Sirius was still moping about being called out by the new teacher when James clapped a hand on his back. "Let's go, Pads. We got practice and I'm sure you're much better looking than Professor Wolfe." This at least got a smile from my stoic boyfriend as he got up as well.

"I'm going to take that as a compliment, Prongs," He said while flicking his hair from his eyes and stretching for good measure. When the hem of his shirt lifted just enough to show some of his tanned skin, I watched most of the girls that were aware of his presence (a.k.a. the whole Great Hall) swoon or fan themselves. Even I have to admit that my heart started to race a little.

Getting up from my seat, I poked Sirius who was still in mid-stretch in the stomach. He looked down at where I was folding my arms across my chest and tapping my foot. Smiling, he turned his stretch into a bear hug while picking me off the ground as I let out a huff. "I love you," He said with a grin and I rolled my eyes while wrapping my arm around his waist as we walked out with James.

"So let me just say that you two are nauseatingly in love and I don't appreciate it," James said with a joking lilt in his voice. Wrapping my other arm around his waist, I pulled him in closer as well. "Thanks, Alexa; I was staring to feel a little unloved."

"No problem, Jam-Jam." I said using the nickname for my best boy friend that I knew he hated. "Besides, don't tell me about cuteness when you and Blair are all up on each other when you think we're not looking. I'm pretty sure that you guys just started dating again yesterday too, so you're getting a leg up aren't you?"

Sticking his tongue out at me, James hauled open the door to the Entrance Hall and we were hit with a blast of cold air to the face. "Balls, man!" Sirius exclaimed and I laughed as I started to skip through the snow to the pitch. My scarf blew around my face and while I was fixing it, I was hit in the back with a snowball. "I'm going to have to agree with Alex, James. You and Blair are taking the whole 'making up for lost time' thing to a new level."

"Just because we are affectionate in our love does not give you a reason to critique, Mr. Black." James said while forming another snowball and aiming it at Sirius this time. Dodging the ball o' snow like a puma, Sirius picked up a handful of snow and levitated it with his wand down James's shirt when his back was turned. "That's like five thousand push-ups!" James said before Sirius took off running.

His barking laughter carried back to us on the wind and I rolled my eyes before looking at James. "Race you to the pitch?" I asked and before I got an answer, I took off towards the pitch. With the wind whipping my ponytail around and trying to catch Sirius, I started to laugh as I pushed my legs harder. Because he had longer legs, James was right on my tail as we entered the gates to the field.

Not expecting Sirius to be waiting for us just inside the gate, I barreled him over as I came through and let out a shriek as James launched himself on top of us. "Get _off_ of me, you freaks!" Sirius said through his laughter as James rolled off the pile and I pushed myself up.

"You brought this upon yourself," I said while stuffing a handful of snow in his face and hair. The little white flakes contrasted with his dark ebony hair so I started laughing at the effect. What I got next was a mouthful of snow and a spot in the snow next to James. "That wasn't fair." I protested while Sirius got up and dusted himself off.

Shaking his hair like a dog, he offered a hand to me who I took before pulling him down again and letting James hit him in the chest with a pile of snow. "By now you should have learned that when it involves snow, nothing is fair." Sirius said with a huff. Getting up it was my turn to offer him a hand, which he took to help get up and then we each pulled our Captain up from the ground.

"You three are completely ridiculous," Remus said from behind us and I smiled while turning around and stalking towards him. I smiled in my devious creeper face when he put his hands out. "I will not partake in another snowball war if I am not properly equipped." He gestured to his clothes, which were rather civilian and in no ways snow able and I nodded.

"Oh, I don't want to play in the snow, Remus. I'd really just like to know where this hatred for our newest Professor comes from. The only sarcastic thing I've ever heard you say to a teacher was talking to Binns; and even then I'm not sure he was paying attention." Putting my hands on my hips, I stopped in front of him and raised my eyebrows. "Spill it."

Pulling his cap down further on his head, Remus let out a sigh while James and Sirius crowded around to hear this as well. "It's not that I'm going out of my way to be disrespectful. And even though he is my superior and my teacher, I think that he's been going out of his way to talk to Lyla." He sighed and crossed his arms while he looked at us for our reaction.

"So this is about the fact that he's been friendly with your girlfriend?" Sirius asked trying to clear up where Remus was coming from. The blonde boy nodded and Sirius held a hand up to his chin in mock contemplation. "See if that was happening to me I would destroy the person. However, seeing as the person in question is a professor, I don't think you have anything to worry about, Moony."

"Sirius is actually right about this one, Remus. Wolfe's a teacher and if he wants to keep his job then he'll recognize those boundaries." James said while clapping Remus on the back and then heading off with Sirius to the locker rooms. As the rest of the team started to arrive, I walked with Remus a little bit ahead of the group so I could talk to him.

"Listen; Lyla is one of those girls that are just really nice. She sees someone out of their comfort zone and she helps. Professor Wolfe is one of those guys." I stopped before entering the girl's locker room. "If you have anything to worry about I'll let you know, because even though I act like a complete idiot sometimes, my friends come first and I don't let them act stupid. Besides, how long has Lyla known you?"

He tilted his head and looked at me before answering, not sure where I was going with this. Luckily, for him, I had some inkling of an idea. "About six years?" He stated in what sounded more like a question but I nodded along.

"And how long has she known Professor Wolfe?" I questioned and Remus smiled. "Exactly; you are the obvious choice even though there isn't really a choice." Giving me a half-hug, he pulled back and gave me another one of his small smiles.

"Thanks, Alexa. Even though you are a total spaz sometimes, your words actually help." Unleashing me from the hug, he looked up in the stands and waved. Looking up there as well, I saw Blair and Lyla waving back and making faces at us. "Speaking of inspirational words, this is the second time you've given me love advice. Have you ever thought about writing a manual?" He asked jokingly.

I smiled as I made my way into the locker room. "It's actually one of my side projects. Just don't let the cat out of the bag; it's a secret." Laughing, I walked into the locker room that I shared with Marlene and Carry, the only females on the team besides myself. Inside, the two were talking about the latest gossip; surprisingly it wasn't about our newest professor.

"Apparently the whole Ravenclaw team has been suspended for foul play. Speaking of did you hear about Caradoc?" Marlene asked as she pulled her robes over her head. Carry made a sound of assent as she pulled on her gloves and shoved her hat back on her head. Marlene looked over at me and smiled before turning her questions on me. "Well, come on. You can't expect us to believe that you don't know what's going on." Pulling out my own practice robes, I decided to shed some insight.

"Well, basically Caradoc was peeved about being moved from his spot and not getting the credit he deserved or some rot so he sought out the opposing team. When they found out he was holding a grudge they set up a plan, but it was only to distract the team long enough for their seeker to beat out you, Carry," I took a breath and looked to Carry who was lacing up her boots.

"It didn't work, obviously," Carry said with a smile and then she sat back down. Marlene finished tying up her boots and I yanked on my gloves before a question I had popped into my mind.

"Wait a second; how did you guys find out about this?" I said as we continued out the doors to the field where many of the boys were already assembled. Marlene cradled her broom in her arms before looking out over the Quidditch pitch and nodding.

"Caradoc apparently turned them all in," She said and as we straggled to where the rest of the team was meeting we saw the boy in question standing in front of James. It looked like they were arguing and I went to stand next to Thomas to see what was going on. "He wants back on the team," Thomas whispered to me. Looking back at the two boys, I saw Blair and Sirius flanking James on either side.

As I got closer, Caradoc defended himself against James' rigid pose. "Listen, Potter, I turned myself in. I brought the Ravenclaw team down with me. You should be begging me to be back on the team seeing as I'm the best keeper that you've got." His hands gestured largely and then he crossed his arms as he was hit with the glares of multiple people.

James took in a breath before stalking closer to Caradoc. "I've got a new keeper, Dearborn. No matter what you say or what you do, you betrayed me and I can't think of you as a Gryffindor any longer for doing so." Pushing his glasses up on his forehead and rubbing his eyes, he looked a Caradoc with disdain. "You can go now."

"That's not fair!" Caradoc said vigorously, taking a step forward towards James. Sirius made a move like he was going to stop him but Blair stepped up first. "What's not fair is that you went against a person who stood up for you through everything. That you caused that boy to suffer through a coma just so you could get some kind of recognition." Poking him in the chest, Blair pushed Caradoc a little harder than necessary.

"If you wanted to make an ass out of yourself you could have done so without putting your Captain's life in danger. So I'm sorry that you have to be a little baby about this but life's not fair. Get over it and get the hell out of our lives." She crossed her arms in front of her chest and stood looking up at Caradoc. I'd been on the receiving end of that Blair Glare and I knew that even if you were taller, that glare made you feel like you were two feet tall.

Placing a hand on her shoulder, James stood behind Blair, who seemed to calm down slightly at his touch. "It's over and I'm not changing my mind." James said and Caradoc ran a hand through his hair before turning around to leave. Seeing the rest of the team gathered around and watching him, he paused for a minute.

"I'm sorry; it wasn't supposed to end up like this." He said and I frowned while crossing my arms. It wasn't right of him to get the pity vote like this. Which is exactly what he was doing and he knew it.

"It never is," Sirius muttered from where he was standing. We all watched as he left the stadium and when he was gone, the talking of everyone started to overwhelm the large place we were all standing in. James looked slightly defeated as his team converged on him. Blair, who as holding onto his arm, was talking quietly to him.

Extracting myself from the outer circle that was practically pulsing with gossip, I found my sister standing off to the side with a devious look on her face. "Please tell me that you're thinking what I'm thinking?" I asked her as I came to stand beside her. She nodded while looking towards the entrance to the field. "If you're thinking about adding Caradoc into our prank, then yes; we're thinking the same thing." She said and I nodded as my smile widened and my brain started to work.

I had actually been thinking about this being the end of practice, but don't tell her that. "And this prank goes down tonight; at dinner we'll spike the drinks." I commented and putting her hand out, we did a swift handshake, with our hands grasping each other's just below the elbow. "Let's do this."

As we shook hands again, James pulled away from Blair while muttering some excuse then knocked Sirius on the shoulder. "Practice is off. I'm going to tell McGonagall about the changes in the team roster." He said while walking away by himself with his hands in his pocket and his head down. Blair and Sirius looked at each other for a moment before coming to join us with Remus.

"We've got to do something about him before he gets it into his head that he's done something wrong," Sirius rubbed the back of his neck while looking around the pitch at the team who had somewhat dispersed back to the locker rooms.

Lyla and I looked around at our friends before Lyla told them. "Oh, we have something in mind."

* * *

"Alexa, if you don't step off my jock I'm going to tell Sirius that you were trying to seduce me." James spat viciously as Lyla giggled. Stomping my foot onto his, I glared at James and flipped him off the best I could in the tight quarters we were in. "I'm being serious, Parker. Get. Off. My. Jock."

I flushed as I got the message and moved away, thanking the stars that it was dark under the cloak. "Sorry! It's not like I volunteered to be this close." I argued back while raising my voice some. The house elves we were waiting on to leave went by without noticing us as they set the tables for dinner. My stomach growled loudly as three walked past us supporting a bowl of soup.

"Stuff it, both of you. If you wanted to get caught you could have told me so I would have stayed in the Common Room." Reprimanded Lyla from her spot closest to the wall we were standing next to. "James, it would have been lovely if you could have told us that we weren't all going to fit under the cloak." She did a short spin so she could look James in the eye and the move fluttered the cloak around our feet. The stand still we did had my heart racing as I thought of us being caught like this.

Sure, it probably would have been easier if we had just put the potion in their drink at actual dinnertime, but then we risked the chance of someone catching us and getting us expelled or suspended or pranked back. I also suggested that we just ask the house elves to do it for us, but Lyla told me they weren't allowed to do things without administration approval. To which I say screw the administration because I was starting to get a little claustrophobic in here.

We watched the house elves scurry along bringing different delicacies and setting the mock tables that would send the prepared food to the actual tables. It had taken me forever to realize that the food hadn't just magically appeared out of nowhere, but had the magic that house elves used to teleport themselves places put on it. Feeling a hand on my shoulder, I looked over my shoulder to see James standing in an extremely awkward position: his hand on my shoulder the only thing keeping him steady.

My shoulders started to shake and Lyla had her hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing out loud, while James stood with one foot on top of the other and half of his body turned opposite from the rest. His glasses were askew, sliding down his nose, and he was tilting his face to try to stop them from sliding off. Scrunching up his nose to try, fruitlessly, to keep his glasses on, the horror on his face was evident.

"Alexa, help me." He whispered looking towards me. With the little room that I had to move, I crossed my arms over my chest and looked at James with a smirk. Lyla, who was behind me and couldn't reach James unless she reached all the way around me, shook with laughter at the predicament. "You traitor! After all we've been through you're just going to let me suffer like this?"

I pondered the situation for a moment before nodding my head decisively. "You're right, James," Reaching into his shirt pocket, I extracted the vial of veritisserum before putting it in my pocket. James looked at me in astonishment and terror. "Can't have that breaking on your way down."

With one little nudge, James went flying from his already unbalanced position. His glasses flew off his face as he fell and he threw his arms out to try to catch them. Lyla and I held onto the cloak to keep it from flying off us, and our be-speckled friend was suddenly revealed to the kitchen staff. The house elves slowly stopped what they were doing before looking at James who was cursing up a storm.

"You stupid, two-faced, son of a jackal! Fucking douche, my ass hurts." He stood up clutching his cracked glasses and pulled at the ends of his hair that was sticking up from the static of being under the cloak. When he saw that he was in the company of more people that could actually see him, he stopped and placed his glasses on his face. "Hey," He said before clearing his throat.

The wide, glassy eyes of about thirty munchkin elves looked up at the six-foot tall boy and I had to bite my fist to keep from giving Lyla and myself away to the elves. "Just, uh, go about your business." James muttered and despite what they must have thought, the house elves went back to what they were doing while what looked to be the person in charge stepped up to James.

"Excuse me, Mr. Potter, sir. Squeaky just wants to say that the Professor Dumbledore does not allow the students into the kitchen, and if Professor Dumbledore's gets word of this Squeaky has failed." The wide blue eyes watched James as she clutched her floppy ears with one hand. "Squeaky does not want to fail, sir."

"Well, at ease, Ms. Squeaky. I'll be out of your hair momentarily there's just something I need to take care of first." With a large, but easy smile, James walked towards the Gryffindor table while Squeaky watched him before stomping her ear under her toe, wincing, and getting back to work with a new vigor. I frowned and watched her go before Lyla was pulling me along. The cloak, obviously, was much more comfortable now that there were just two of us.

As we neared James, I saw him standing in front of the one spot that was specifically reserved for Bree and Andy. Because they figured the 'ruled the school' and technically, since Andy was a seventh year she could sit wherever she wanted because of seniority, but I digress; they had marked off an area of four seats where they could sit with a buffer zone from everyone else. Apparently, it was so people wouldn't be intimidated by their greatness, but it only made people hate them more.

"It's not my fault you fell, James." I whispered from under the cloak and he looked in our direction while glaring. "You're the one who told me to step off you. I just didn't want Sirius to get the wrong idea when you told him I was trying to seduce you." Lifting up the cloak on the side that the elves wouldn't be able to see us, I poked my head out and smiled at the glaring boy.

"That didn't apply to the situation and you know it." Reaching his hand out for the veritisserum, James looked at me as if I had maimed his first child. "You're dead to me," he said after taking the vial and emptying some of the contents into the drink glasses filled with water. Right as he was putting the cap back on the serum, Lyla spoke up.

"James, we need to put that in the cup down here." She said pointing to a cup a little ways off. Her eyes were devious as she looked back at me. James shrugged and then walked down the table but when he reached the spot, he looked up at us with a questioning look. "We've got to show him once and for all that you don't mess with the Marauders and get away with it."

"Let's just say that it's the last time we'll ever have to deal with him." I said while shrugging and nodding towards the drink cup. James hesitated a minute and I jumped in. "He betrayed you, James. And not only did he do that to you but to the Quidditch team too. It could have destroyed the season, your spotless record. He needs to," I didn't finish my rousing speech before James tilted the rest of the contents into the glass.

Looking back towards us and putting the potion vial in his pocket, he smiled vindictively. "He deserves it." Shimming back under the cloak, James marched us back over to the doors. When no one was looking, we ducked out the pear door and back into the corridor. It was eerily quiet compared to the hustle of the kitchen. "Dinner should be starting any minute."

Whipping the cloak off us, James stowed the piece of cloth in his robe pocket. Lyla and I started to walk down the hall ahead of him, not really talking but both extremely tired and just content with the silence. That is until James caught up with us and started a running commentary on everything we were seeing. He had just started on about one of the portraits that had started a fight with him and Sirius when a cat appeared at the end of the hallway.

I glanced at it weirdly, seeing as it was blocking our path out of the lower part of the castle, and I opened my mouth to say something when it let out a meow. Not just a regular meow, either, it was a deep yowl that radiated out of the cat. Which was awkward to say the least, seeing as the cat hadn't even opened its mouth or moved from its position. James stopped talking almost immediately after the sound and gasped.

"Demon spawn, we meet again." He said in a deathly quiet voice. Glaring at the end of the hallway, James didn't notice Lyla and I both stopping to stare at him with odd expressions.

Putting a hand on his shoulder, Lyla motioned towards the cat but James didn't change his glare or look away. "That is a cat, James. A fluffy, calico colored cat. It's not going to do anything to you." She looked back at me and I shrugged while walking towards the yellow-eyed cat. Lyla was right; the cat was pretty but there was something weird about it if I had to say.

"It's not 'just a cat,'" James said while mocking my sister and stalking towards the cat who was watching his every move. The thing was twitching its tail in anticipation if that was even possible. "That is Mrs. Norris. She belongs to Filch and while she may look pretty, she is the spawn of Lucifer himself." Making a weird noise, he hissed at the cat that flinched.

"Okay; I think that you've been sipping the crazy juice," I told James while he looked back at me in surprise.

"You are obviously naïve as well as dead to me, Girl-that-used-to-be-my-friend." He said shaking his head sadly. "This cat is one of the sole reasons that some of our pranks need to be hastily redone or cleaned up completely before anyone sees. And if you don't believe just ask Padfoot. He once had to spend the night in the hospital because she scratched his eye. Luckily he only looked like a demon himself for a few hours, but I've never seen anyone so mad."

He trailed off and then looked back at the cat that was now guarding the door. I swear to you; it was the most human-like animal I've ever seen. "So you're saying that this cat is like a super-cat?" Lyla asked as we all started to walk towards her.

James nodded his head and then hissed again. It was, once again, a little awkward because this time the cat hissed back in the 'get the fuck out' type of tone. If cat's have a tone, that is. "Exactly that, Lyla. And if my calculations are correct, we have two point seven minutes left before Filch arrives. Which means we have to get through that door and past Mrs. Norris before then."

"What do you have in mind?" I asked James while we assessed the situation. "We could call in back up but Moony has the map and I don't have my mirror on my person at the present moment." Looking at James weird because really, besides the most vain girls, who carried a mirror on them? And why did my boyfriend think it was okay to be that narcissistic. "Marauder's secret, Alexa." James said after watching me try to figure out the 'secret.'

"Well then, what do we do?" Leaning against the wall, I ran my hands through my ponytail and began to braid the ends. "If we get caught in here Filch is going to have a hissy and we'll end up in detention again. I can't do detention twice in one week; sleep is more important to me and writing lines sucks complete balls." James and I both sighed together before Lyla cleared her throat.

"Let's just go through the door." She said while holding the 'demon spawn' in her arms. James looked at her incredulously while I rolled my eyes and smiled at my sister. The floundering look on James' face was extremely comical and Lyla laughed while petting the purring pussycat on the stomach. "All I had to do was coo like I was talking to a baby and she turned to fluff."

"Teach me your ways, great sensei." James said reverently as we walked out the doors. Lyla continued to hold Mrs. Norris until we reached the Great Hall and she nuzzled the cat quickly before letting her leap onto the floor. "I am severely astounded." He commented as we walked into the Hall where dinner was getting ready to begin. Looking around the Gryffindor table, I saw that Andy and Bree were already there while Caradoc was talking to some girl at the Hufflepuff table.

Rolling my eyes, I spotted the boy I was looking for. "Let's go," I nodded my head towards the third year and we started his way. While he talked to his friends, James stood up straighter and took on an authoritative persona. "Michael," he called out and the boy in question straightened his shirt and stood at attention.

As I watched him, I realized that he was in fact a mini James Potter. The only thing missing was the slightly askew glasses. "Are you seeing this?" I asked Lyla who just nodded her head and laughed again. What was it with my sister and her laughing fits today? She's been hanging around Sirius way too much lately.

"Now, Michael, these two ladies require your expertise for something. I need you to give them your undivided attention and if you could ask mini Padfoot over there to help you that would be amazing." James, or Mr. Potter, smiled at the young boy and he saluted as he waved over his friend. Who, if I had to admit, reminded me a lot of a younger Sirius.

"We're happy to be of assistance, Mr. Potter. Ms. Parker and Ms. Parker will not be let down." Said Michael, as he stood straighter and elbowed his friend to do the same. They both looked eager as we sat down next to them as James went to talk to someone else, presumably to get the Hufflepuff girl Allyson Smith to talk to Caradoc and help with the prank. "How can we help you, Ms. Parker? Ms. Parker?"

I almost couldn't contain my laughter, but a swift pinch from my sister told me to take this seriously. "Call me Alexa, Michael. And this is Lyla. The whole Ms. Parker thing makes me feel like I'm talking to a professor." Faking the chills, we all leaned in to talk about the prank in detail. "Now this is what we need you to do. Bree Williams and Andy Ablo have had something put in their water. Don't worry about what it is because that is a trade secret for the Marauders to tell you."

"We just need you to take this list of questions," Lyla took a piece of folded parchment from her pocket and handed it to Michael who began to guard it with his life. "And use this," She next took out a muggle tape recorder with a special tape in it. "To record all that they say. The red button begins the recording and pressing it again after they've answered all the questions will make it stop."

"Make sure you get it all and don't let them see the recorder." I put in and Lyla nodded her agreement. The boys looked at us as if they were soaking it all in and I smiled. "Have fun with it too though; you don't want it to be too obvious."

"Yes, ma'm," They said together and this time I really did laugh. The third years took it in stride and then Michael stuck out his hand. "It's as good as done." Taking his smaller hand in mine, I shook it once and then got up to leave.

"Start about midway through dinner, sit in the buffer zone, and meet Sirius at the Grand Staircase when dinners over, okay?"

After they had both saluted again, Lyla and I made our way down to where Sirius, Remus, and Blair were sitting, meeting up with James on the way there. "It's all good with Allyson. She's going to seduce him when he walks her back from dinner and then she's going to meet Sirius after he's done with Michael and Drew."

"Does Sirius have to do it?" I asked while thinking of Allyson, one of the more experienced Hufflepuff girls, meeting my boyfriend, who is also not known for being the most monogamous man at Hogwarts, after hours in a dark corridor. We reached the table and sat down at our respective spots. "It'll be fine," Lyla said to me with an encouraging smile and I smiled back.

"How'd it go?" Sirius asked the table while leaning over to brush his lips against mine. I could feel my smile reach my eyes when he looked down and winked at me.

"Sit back and watch the magic," James said with a laugh as we all started to chat. Dinner hadn't been served yet, but Andy and Bree were drinking their water as if it was spiked with Canadian black. Trying not to be too suspicious looking, I snuck a glance out of the corner of my eye and saw Andy looking in disgust at her water glass. So they had finally noticed the horrid taste that struck you right at the end.

"Andy just finished her potion," I whispered to the table so my other classmates wouldn't hear. My friends, who had less tact and stealth than even I possessed, whipped around to look at the girls that were sitting about three tables down from us. Bree too stuck out her tongue and then looked at Andy who was shaking her hand and swiping the inside of her glass with a napkin to see if the problem was there.

Their antics continued as dinner was served and while Sirius heaped food on my plate for me, I watched as Michael got up, looked around the hall, motioned to Drew, and went to sit by Bree. In the seat next to her that was the 'buffer' zone. Smiling when I saw Bree blanch, I turned back to my plate and listened to what my friends were talking about.

"So I heard from Marlene earlier that Mary McDonald, that sixth year Ravenclaw, is planning a surprise birthday party for her boyfriend Finnegan Scott and only certain people are invited." Blair was saying while she looked around excitedly. Lyla nodded her head while pushing the vegetables around on her plate without really eating. Frowning, I tapped her leg under the table and she looked up before settling on my face and blinking once.

Tilting my head to the side, I silently asked if she was okay. To which she responded with another rapid succession of blinking. Right, of course she wasn't okay. Her boyfriend thought that her Professor was sporting a crush on her. When would the silly boy get that _he_ was the right one for Lyla? Looking down at my own food, I stabbed a carrot and munched on it thoughtfully while Sirius and James conversed about this party.

"Don't really see why it's important that we go, Bear," James said while looking to Sirius for backup. Sirius shrugged in a 'what can you do' way when Blair rolled her eyes at her boyfriend. "Just let me get this straight. Were we even invited?" He inquired and Blair put her fork down in an exasperated manner. Because I knew what was coming, I ducked out of the way, as a roll came soaring towards James.

"Of course we were invited, James. Do you think that I would really just crash someone's birthday party? Especially if they belonged to another house. Honestly," Blair muttered while picking up another dinner roll from the basket in the middle of the table. Laughing at the stupidity of my friends, I reached for my drink almost spilling it all over the table when I felt a hand on my knee.

Blushing cherry red, I looked over at my boyfriend who looked unaffected as he easily talked to our friends. It took a deep breath and release before I was able to function properly again. As I took a long drink, however, the fingers on said hand began to trace random patterns up and down my leg. This time I let out a yelp and did miss my mouth as the orange pumpkin juice ran over my yellow sweater. My friends looked at me while Sirius squeezed my knee causing me to jump up.

"Wotcher, Alexa," Remus said with a smile before he handed me a napkin to dab at the stain. I let out a nervous laugh while thanking the lucky stars that I was usually this clumsy and no one thought any different about it. Glaring at Sirius, who studiously acted like an innocent little bastard, I sat back down while using my wand to clear the rest of the liquid off my shirt.

Leaning over, I put my hand on Sirius' shoulder while whispering to him, "You better be thankful that I don't want to cause a scene or your torture would be excruciating." Giving him a sweet smile so no one would think that I had just threatened him, I went back to trying to pay attention to the conversation about Mary's boyfriend and his birthday.

That didn't last long until, once again, fast fingers were tracing up and down my thigh again. I bit my lip while trying to focus on anything other than what was going on beneath the table. Realizing that this was just going to keep up, I stood up abruptly and grabbed Sirius' arm. "I just forgot that Sirius and I have to talk to," Looking around quickly, I saw some random first year walking out the door with her friends. "That girl over there."

Not waiting for an answer, I dragged Sirius after me while he laughed. "Why does she need to talk to Charlotte Higgins?" James asked quizzically. I didn't catch the answer, however, as we were already halfway out of the Great Hall. My grip around Sirius' wrist tightened as I spotted an empty corridor up ahead. We had just stumbled into an empty classroom when I spun him around and pushed him against the door.

"You are an extremely mean person," I accused, standing up on my tiptoes and staring him in the eye. That arrogant smirk lit across his lips as he leaned down towards me.

"Be still, my heart," He said in mock wistfulness while trying to capture my lips again. Putting a finger to his lips, I raised an eyebrow and smirked at him. He pursed his lips, affectively kissing my fingertip, and then blew air out of his mouth. "I'm sorry," He muttered while looking at me from under his lashes that framed his smoldering eyes. He was beautiful as hell and he knew it. Well it wasn't going to work to his advantage this time.

"I'm sorry you think that I can't hold something like this against you." My smirk widened as he groaned when I pushed up against him, using my feminine wiles to my advantage. "Sometimes you just can't get what you want." I let him know while I backed off and walked backwards away from him. It probably took him all of two seconds to catch up to me and pull me back.

"I always get what I want," He said in a self-assured way, and I almost swooned on spot when he captured my lips with his own. I couldn't help but giggle when he had to lift me onto the very tip of my toes to reach him, and he smiled against my mouth as the kiss deepened.

When we broke for air, his thumbs hooked through my belt loops and my hands clutching his shirt were the only things holding me up. "Have I told you lately that I love you?" He asked and my legs turned to jelly as we kissed again. Good lord, he was turning me into a sap. "We have to stop or we're going to miss the results of the veritisserum and detention."

I sighed and then rose to my toes again. "But I don't want to," I whined and Sirius smiled at me before releasing me from his hold. The sudden loss of contact almost sent me to the floor and I blushed deeply while looking away when I caught my balance. Sirius laughed and I glared at him from through the fringe that had fallen into my eyes. "You made me swoon, you douche."

"Terribly sorry, love." He apologized while helping me tug my shirt back to normal. We exited the classroom just in time to see James, Michael, and Drew walking towards us. James, of course, rolled his eyes and made a comment as he neared us. "If you're going to have sex, please don't christen the History of Magic classroom."

Michael and Drew giggled as per their age group while Sirius flipped James the middle finger. "Good thing I have class in there on Tuesday, eh Alex? I can think of you and," Punching him in the stomach before he planted these little seeds of thought into present company's mind, I held out my hand for the tape recorder I had given Michael earlier.

"Thanks for all your help, guys. It's like staring at the next generation of Marauders already," I said while all four boys beamed proudly. "Now, I believe we have a prank to manufacture, James. And Sirius, be back soon if you don't want be to think you're gallivanting around school with Allyson." Walking away, I heard Sirius shout that he'd be careful not to woo anyone accidentally and then James was by my side.

"Shall we have a little listen then?" He asked while holding a hand out for the little black box I was holding in my hand. Clutching it tighter to me, I slid it in my back pocket for safety. "Now that's just an illegal play, Alexa." James pouted while crossing his arms over his chest and jutting his lower lip out about a million miles.

Rolling my eyes, I nodded towards Nearly Headless Nick who floated by us on our way to the common room. "Stop being a little girl, Potter. We'll all listen to it when we are safely back to the confines of our own common room. That way the risk of being overheard will be less." A light bulb went on over James' head as he processed the information. We walked along in a blissful silence until we reached the portrait where a few people were hanging around.

Noticing that some of them were not Gryffindor, James pulled to a stop before I could say the password. "What's up?" He asked casually, and one of the boys looked us over before deciding that we weren't a threat.

"We're actually looking for Bree Williams? She promised to show us around tonight, if you catch my drift." He added the last part to James who grimaced as if he was going to be sick. The person who was speaking, obviously one of the more humane Slytherin boys, looked wary for a moment until James explained himself.

"Well, you see, I heard that she came down with an extremely contagious, sort of," He looked my way before giving me a slight wink and leaning towards the Slytherin boys conspiratorially. "Rash." He said finally and they all exchanged looks while James let a slightly horrified smirk come over his features. I'm not sure how, but he had all of them running for the hills before I could blink.

"Excellent use of sabotage, Master Potter." I said and the portrait hole swung open after he said the password clearly and then bowed as I passed. "What can I say but that I am a master of all things good?" He goaded and we laughed before finding our friends on the couches. We played the tape recorder, gathered our information from Sirius when he got back (free from any other girls perfume, I noticed happily), and then went about our jobs.

Tomorrow was going to be good.

* * *

"Good, you're all here." Professor Wolfe said as we knocked on his office door at exactly seven sharp. We stood in a semi-circle as he locked the door and then turned back towards us. "Let's go shall we? We're going to be cleaning the trophy room tonight." He led the way back down the hallway and I trailed along behind Sirius who was walking in the front of our group. Hastening my stride to catch up to our teacher, I shoved my hands in my pockets when I got level with him.

He looked at me curiously and I felt my cheeks heating up. "Professor, I just wanted to apologize for what I said last night." I looked down at my shoes while I spoke, not risking the chance of looking up now that I had thoroughly embarrassed myself in front of him. "It was definitely inappropriate and usually I don't say things like that because I'm composed and you're a teacher," Continuing to ramble, I didn't stop until he placed a hand on my shoulder.

When I looked up, he was smiling at me kindly and I bit my lip. If I was going to be reprimanded for my word vomit, I wanted to at least be able to look innocent while it happened. "Ms. Parker, you can consider it forgotten. Under the duress of veritisserum it is very hard to keep thoughts and answers to yourself." Bringing my hands from my pockets, I gestured in front of myself as we continued to walk.

"But that's the thing; the effects had worn off by then and I feel so stupid," I muttered, talking to myself more than I was talking to Professor Wolfe. Pulling my ponytail over my shoulder and examining the ends, I continued to talk to myself without noticing that we had reached the trophy room. "Sometimes the things that come out of my mouth are completely ridiculous and I ask myself where the hell they come from."

Professor Wolfe cleared his throat and I paused. "Oh, right; where the shell they come from." I started to walk again; heading towards what I thought was a continuing hallway. When I ran into something solid, I paused in my ramblings before apologizing. "Sorry about that. Wasn't quite watching where I was walking."

Large bouts of laughter sounded from behind me and I swung around towards my friends. Sirius' bark like laughter was loud and the sound of it made my heart speed up. The sound of twinkling bells sprang forth in quick bursts from my sister who looked like she was tearing up from hilarity. Remus' deep laughter was in the undertones of everyone else's and it was nice to hear him actually laugh. James' inane giggling was a cross between girlish and prepubescent boy, which brought a smile to my face. And Blair's throaty cackle mixed in a crazy aspect to it all.

I noticed all of this while standing with my hands on my hips, looking at my friends and my Professor, all of which were laughing at my expense. "What?" I asked in a monotone expression and Sirius turned me around to see what I had run into. My face flamed as I took in the door to the trophy room. I had just apologized to a stationary object. Burying my face into Sirius' chest, I sighed deeply while he laughed.

"It was priceless, babe, I can't help but laugh." He spoke through his laughter and I groaned in shame while Professor Wolfe opened the door to the classroom to let us all in. Leaving my humiliation behind, I stepped through the door with Sirius behind me and looked around at all the silver and gold that adorned the shelves and the walls. In one corner of the room, there were stairs leading up to a second level, and dead center was a large, glittering crystal tower.

Inside the tower, four crystal hourglasses stood, each filled with a different colored stone. The ruby stones glittered in the lamp light of the room, their stones rising only a bit more than the emerald colored stones in the glass next to them. Staring in amusement, I crossed my arms about myself and took in the room. It was funny to think that in over five years of living in the castle I had never been to the trophy room.

Not paying attention, I was startled when James slapped me on the shoulder and smiled at me maniacally. At my questioning look, he gestured to the rag and polish laying in a pile near the stairs. "Sirius and I are your partners for the night, mademoiselle." At what must have been my terrified face, James put a hand to his chest. "We will have you know that not one person has ever had a boring detention with the Marauders around. Isn't that right, Padfoot?"

Sirius, who was holding a trophy in his palm and weighing it between another one, looked over at us and grinned. "Of course, Prongs. Now look, these are our Quidditch trophies from last year. I'm almost positive that the trophy with my name on it is quite a bit heavier than your own," This was all said with the same shit-eating grin he wore when he was getting ready to pull a prank. James rushed over and snatched the trophies from his friend, who ran a hand through his hair to brush it out of his eyes.

Rolling my own eyes, I made my way to the stairs to grab a rag and some polish. Spotting Lyla by the bucket, I decided now was probably one of the only times I would be able to speak with her alone. "Hey, Lyls, wait up just a moment." She looked up at me and shrugged while Remus and Blair began working on the second level.

"What's this all about?" Lyla asked when I dragged her over to the closest trophy case by the stairs and started to get to work. Glancing at the name on the plate-like gold trophy, I decided that what we were talking about would be safe with Barabbas Amesbury. While Sirius and James continued to bicker between themselves about whose trophy was bigger (yes, I do understand how this sounds), I gave my sister my best serious face.

"Tell me immediately what you think of Professor Wolfe." Rolling her eyes, Lyla picked up a trophy and began to polish it with vigor. I stared at my sister for a few moments, pressuring her for an answer. "I'm being completely serious right now, Lyla. Just tell me what you think because I'm here for you and Remus is freaking out whenever we get within ten feet of the man."

"I just don't want to talk about." She said with a vengeance, and I swiped the trophy from her hands. As she looked up, the blue of her eyes got darker when she realized I wasn't going to kid with her. "He's a teacher, Alexa. While he may be a handsome man it doesn't mean that I'm going to jump his bones as you and Blair so clearly put it."

Smiling slightly, I gave my sister her trophy back and she held it tightly while sitting down on the floor. Once there, she put her elbows on her knees and leaned forward. Sliding down the wall, I mirrored her position and waited for what she had to say. Eventually, she took a breath. "He wants to fit in with his students without being too lenient. He wants to inspire people like he was inspired by his own teachers. He doesn't want to be the new guy that is taken advantage of and ridiculed.

"And it's like he understood me when I was talking about being a healer. It's just like he knows what I'm talking about when I say that there's something inside of me that wants to help people." She dropped her head into her hands before flipping her hair over her shoulder and looking back at me. "Do you get it, Alex? I'm not flirting; he's a teacher and I won't cross that line."

"I know you won't do anything to compromise that, Lyls. It's just that while he can be your teacher, he can't also be your friend." I said while trying to get across the message. Being friends with a teacher was an awkward position to be in when the teacher was a young, just graduated, sex tool. Lyla widened her eyes and I tried to think of something to say. "He wants to fit in and I get that, but fitting in doesn't mean spending time alone with a female student."

"You're making him sound like the type of teacher Sirius would be," Lyla said with a sigh and I pondered the thought for a moment. Teacher Sirius and student Alexa. I laughed aloud, drawing the attention of Sirius and James who were now looking over at us in interest. "Go back to your business boys." My sister told them and they watched us for a moment more before going back to whatever they had been doing.

"I'm not trying to be harsh on you or anything. Really I just want to understand this as much as possible." Scooting over, I leaned my head on my older sister's shoulder. "Just think about what Remus feels like. I'm confused by all of this and I'm not even your boyfriend." Lyla tensed up for a minute before looking up towards the stairs where we could hear the sounds of Blair chatting away while Remus' occasional 'hmm' would drift down.

Looking off into space, Lyla nodded. "It isn't very fair to him. I just wish he knew that I wouldn't do anything of the sort with a teacher. Doesn't he trust me to not make bad decisions?" She asked no one in particular, but I had to answer her.

"He trusts _you_, Lyla. He may not be quite so trusting of Professor Wolfe just yet though. I imagine Sirius would be pretty peaked if a young, quite obviously handsome teacher latched onto me for some direction." Speaking of Sirius, I looked around the trophy room trying to spot him. When he was nowhere to be found, I just figured he had gone upstairs. Turning back to Lyla and awaiting her answer, I was surprised to see that she was not there.

Then, suddenly, I was being hauled into the air with a hand over my mouth. If I hadn't recognized the smell of the person's cologne, I probably would have bitten said person but as it were when I was sat back down, I settled for a glare. "Had to be done, love. This is war." Sirius peered out from behind the trophy case and a black rag zoomed past his head before he pulled it back in.

"What the hell are you two doing now?" I asked not really being able to help my curiosity. Sirius smiled at me and then grabbed my wrist to pull me between the winding shelves to find a place where we would be hidden from everyone. "Hide and go seek; trophy room edition." Was the explanation I got and there was movement out of the corner of my eye as something blurred past us.

"You'll never escape me!" James' voice cried out from somewhere near us and Sirius cursed under his breath as we took off running again. Trying not to act like I was having too much fun, I allowed myself to be pulled along until we reached the center of the room and seemed to have lost James. Without actually knowing where he came from, however, James tackled Sirius to the ground and put him in a headlock.

"Potter! Get the hell off of me!" Sirius said through strangled breath as he and James wrestled on the floor. James, having the upper hand, laughed maniacally for probably the third time that night. I could now understand why Remus and Sirius said that without Quidditch James went crazy.

"Admit defeat and you shall not perish." He said with an accent and I couldn't help but laugh as Remus and Blair made their way over to the balcony to look at the commotion. "Never!" Sirius bellowed while using all of his strength to flip James off him and then holding out his wand like a fake sword.

James, realizing he was defeated, bowed his head and closed his eyes in shame. Smiling, Sirius turned towards us and bowed deeply. "Dear ladies, I am terribly sorry that the evil Prongs held you captive. Thou art in a safe haven now," He said in what I realized now was a medieval accent.

"Sirius, watch out!" I screeched while James propelled himself through the air and onto Sirius' back like something out of a vampire novel. While the boys began their epic battle again, Blair yelled over the stairs towards us. "Our hour's almost up so where is our sexy teacher? I'd love to have to stay behind because I didn't do my work." She said with a laugh. As she continued, the door opened and she stopped short as she was talking about his guns.

The room was deathly silent as James sat atop Sirius' chest and the rest of us stood in shock with Blair's eyes three times their normal size. Professor Wolfe straightened his tie before looking around uncomfortably. "Padfoot," James said, still sitting on his chest but now with a contemplating face on. "Don't you enjoy it when people walk in on a room where other people are talking about them?"

"And it gets deathly silent like the room is right now?" Sirius wheezed out with a smile on his face. I slapped a hand over my face while Blair turned beet red and Remus laughed. Lyla was standing next to me with a stoic face, probably still thinking about what she could do to show Remus that the relationship between her and "Luke" was purely platonic and academic.

Once again, hands going to smooth his tie, Professor Wolfe looked around. Sighing, he motioned to nothing with his hands. "Back to your common room." He said tiredly and James whooped for joy while jumping off Sirius. "You won't be disappointed by us again, Professor." James said shaking his hand profusely and then he bounded out of the room dragging Blair, who had made it down the stairs finally, in his wake.

Smiling in apology, I met Sirius by the door and we rolled our eyes together when Remus brushed past our Professor. To my surprise, Lyla only shrugged her shoulders while catching up with her boyfriend and linking her hand with his. He looked down on her and seemed satisfied when she smiled up at him genuinely. It was like a movie as the door to the trophy room shut while Professor Wolfe stood inside looking around.

There was a brief moment that I felt bad for the man, but then again, he was a teacher and could take care of himself. He shouldn't need one of his students to make him fit in. Standing behind Sirius, I jumped on his back demanding a piggyback ride to the common room. "I'm just everyone's slave tonight," He muttered but still walked forward anyways.

Laughing, I bent down to whisper into his ear. "If you're nice to me, I'll tell you about a little thought I had while we were in detention tonight." He turned his head slightly to look at me and I winked.

"That'll do." He said and we made it to the Common Room in record time.

* * *

Lyla pulled me down the stairs half-dressed the next morning, saying something about the fact that we were going to be late for our very own prank. Luckily for her and most of the Common Room's occupants, I had at least had enough sense to get my shirt buttoned most of the way, my skirt was zipped, and my teeth were brushed. My hair, shoes, socks, and tie however were another story completely. While I was griping, Lyla pushed me out the portrait hole and we began our walk through the drafty corridors.

"This is completely ridiculous, sister mine." I muttered while throwing my hair up into a very messy bun that was probably half-falling out but at that point, I didn't care any longer. "It's not like ten more minutes would have mattered," My mutterings and whining were cut short when we reached the top of the stairs and saw Caradoc waiting outside the doors to the Great Hall.

Looking at each other, we quickly made our way down the stairs, and I abandoned my tie to keep myself from tripping. When we reached the wide double doors and stopped a little ways behind Caradoc, Lyla turned towards me. "Do you think the post already came?" Rushing past my former flame, I reached the part of the Gryffindor table where James and Sirius were standing up, both with their arms crossed as they looked at Blair.

"I told you that we should have left earlier," I told Lyla from the corner of my mouth as we looked down at the piece of paper that Blair was clutching with a purpose. "Hey, did we miss the prank already?" Speaking in a hushed whisper, I finished doing my tie and then looked at Sirius. He didn't return my smile and nor did James as they continued to send vicious glares towards my brunette best friend.

Flicking our gazes between the three, Lyla and I looked at each other with puzzled looks on our faces. "Blair doesn't think that our prank is very humane." James said through gritted teeth while he continued to look down at his girlfriend. I sighed and flopped into a seat next to Blair while snatching a hand out and grabbing the paper that she was guarding in her arms.

If I was going to be completely honest, the prank was going to vicious. It was going to cut to the core and hopefully get our nemesis off our backs for the rest of the year. It was social destruction, but only because the threat was promised against us if we did not retaliate. It was also going to make them pay for causing Lyla to go bald and for me to look like I had been stung by a damn fire crab for almost a day.

"I don't see a problem with what's on this paper and what you heard last night, Blair." I told her honestly and she swung around to look at me with a single raised eyebrow. Covering my eyes, I shrugged my shoulders, which elicited an explanation from my chocolate-eyed friend.

"It's the principle of the matter, Alexa. While it is all well and fine while we are just in the Common Room joking around, sending this to the whole school is completely terrible. You're not even giving her a chance to retaliate." Blair said while her voice got angrier and raised in a pitch a little.

Speaking for the first time, Sirius uncrossed his arms and took the paper I had sat on the table. Flicking it out like a newspaper, he cleared his throat and read. "'Bree, did you tell Alexa Parker that her social destruction was going to happen if she did not submit to your quote awesomeness unquote.'" Giving the paper back to Blair, he crossed his arms again and countered with a head tilt and smirk.

"I know what it says, Black." Blair muttered angrily. James, running a hand through his hair as was his forte, sat down next to his girlfriend and took her hands in his larger ones. "Listen, Bear, she tried to ruin your life. She tried to ruin _our_ relationship with each other. All along it wasn't Alexa, or Lyla, or Sirius, or anyone else but Bree that was plotting behind your back. So I just don't see how you can actually think that she deserves anything less than what she's going to get."

Turning away from him, Blair was ganged up on by Sirius' patented puppy dog look. "We're just setting balance back into the world, Winchester. It's the way things need to be so people will know that they can't mess with the Marauder's girls." He was practically begging and Blair realized this as she looked around the hall and saw Bree talking to some random terrified looking second years.

"We won't get caught?" She asked in resignation and it was now Lyla's turn to throw her two-cent in. "We sure as hell better not get caught or I'll be kicking ass and taking names." Smiling we all took our seats and waited impatiently for the post. As more people began to trickle in, the doors to the hall entered and Remus strode into the hall. Like something out of a movie, just as he was doing so the windows opened and the post flooded in, each student getting a red and gold piece of paper embellished with a symbol of a dog, moon, and antlers.

The chatter in the hall exploded as everyone took in the Gryffindor colors, and then recognized the symbol from the ridiculous nicknames that the Marauders used. "I thought you said we weren't going to get caught?" I asked in an annoyed tone as I reached across the table to smack Sirius' piece of toast out of his mouth. He stuck his tongue out at me and I wrinkled my nose in disgust. "Chew your food!"

Remus took a seat across from me, next to Sirius and James, and answered my question. "You girls won't get caught, but as for us," He looked at his friends and then around the hall at the people that were devotedly reading their newsletter. "Well, it's some of our best work. Why not take credit for it?" It was then that I noticed that even the teachers had gotten a Gryffindor post.

Lyla threw her hands up in the air, while Blair put her head in her hands, and I sighed. "You three must strive to be the biggest pricks in the school." Blair said through her hands. She opened her mouth to move on but was cut off by a large scream down where Caradoc and his friends were sitting. The girl sitting next to Caradoc held up her paper, pointed obscenely, and then stalked off out of the hall. While he sat in embarrassment and his face flamed, I heard Andy's distinctive scream from further down the table.

"Someone tell me the meaning of this now!" She shrieked like a banshee, which caused the whole hall to almost quiet to deathly silent. Briefly, I wondered why Dumbledore wasn't putting a stop to this, but when I looked up to the teacher's table, he was happily chewing on his eggs and chuckling to himself. Feeling the bench move out, I watched as James, Remus, and Sirius stood up proudly.

"It would appear, Messer Padfoot and Moony that our fellow Gryffindor, Ms. Ablo, seems to have forgotten how to read." Producing the master copy of the letterhead, James smiled evilly while addressing the hall. "Shall we help our friend while she is in need?" He asked with a devilish wink to his compadres.

"Who would we be if we did not?" Sirius answered with a question of his own, before producing his own copy and taking on Michael's voice. The third year looked delighted as he watched his idols perform. "This question for social interview is for Miss Andy Ablo. Is it true that in your third year you defecated on yourself in a particular Muggle Studies? And is it not also true that that class happened to be on muggle school bells?"

Remus jumped in here, taking special care to look his terrible ex-girlfriend in the eye. "Well, yes, but they were extremely loud and it just happened. I don't even know how you got that information seeing as I blamed it on the child next to me, Emily Higgins."

"Thank you. Next question; Miss Williams, is it not true that you once tried to pick up a boy in a nightclub only to later find out that it was a female dressed in boyish clothing? Is it not also true that you ended up paying the girl to act like a boy so your friends would not think that you had just hit on a girl?" Sirius continued his mantra, hopping down off the bench while James adopted a high-pitched voice and stood behind Bree.

"That's not fair! It is true," He said it in a resigned voice with a dreamy look on his face and the crowd began to laugh at our tormentors abuse. They were finally being taken down. Sirius continued on down the table with Remus next to him, the look on his face promising destruction.

"Mister Dearborn, is it true that over the summer you decided to go on a late night swim, and in the midst of that swim you were discovered by none other than Professor Minerva McGonagall?" The whole hall erupted into laughter as Caradoc stood from his seat. Remus didn't even need to answer the question as Caradoc's upset face said it all.

By now, the uproar of the Hall had reached a roar like that of a Quidditch game as people bickered back and forth between each other, playing out the scenarios we had detailed in our Gryffindor Social Interview Newsletter. The Marauders conjoined in the middle and James called out over the crowd. "Bree Williams, Andy Ablo, and Caradoc Dearborn; you have betrayed your own house, and for that you have paid."

The three mentioned fumed while standing up and arguing their case, but the damage was already done. I looked to my sister and best friend and smiled. Was it evil that we had probably just socially destroyed these three people? Yes, I would admit that and own up to it, but really, it was a dog-eat-dog world out there and they had tortured us.

It was starting to get out of hand, Bree and Andy were stalking towards us, knowing that these questions had to come from someone that would only know Bree personally, when Dumbledore stood up in his seat. The room got silent until you could have heard a pen drop, just because he demanded that sort of power. With a smile, which severely contrasted with McGonagall's intense frown, he motioned for all six of the perpetrators to join him. Which they did, of course, to a rousing round of applause.

* * *

Amulet Girl's AN: Well, wasn't that just simply divine! Again, we apologize for the long delay, but now that school is over for a while, we have a plethora of free time to write. So, on that note, I will work on the next chapter shortly and get it to you as soon as possible. I hope all of you have a Happy Christmas and a Happy Holiday. P.S. a review is the perfect gift for my coauthor and I. Hint, hint.


	26. Wolf vs Wolfe

Disclaimer: Don't own; never have and unfortunately never will.

AmuletGirl's AN: Hi there all you readers of fanfiction! So, I literally wrote this chapter in record time. I don't know what came over me, but I was just on a roll. I hope you enjoy this chapter immensely and be a pal and leave a review please. Enjoy!

* * *

Wolf vs. Wolfe

Lyla's Point of View

"It still utterly blows my mind!" Alexa mused as we all sat around the common room in our usual spots on a lazy Thursday night. We had settled in for the night with nothing to do and prepared for the big weekend before us. There were no classes tomorrow on account of the quidditch game. Not just any quidditch game though, probably the biggest most important game of the year: Gryffindor versus Slytherin. And Saturday was Valentines Day. This Valentines would be especially special considering it would be the first that we were all together.

"I am honestly more shocked about the fact that we didn't get caught," Blair added shifting her feet onto James's lap.

James rubbed Blair's legs and scoffed. "Speak for yourselves."

"Well, you guys did put you name all over those flyers and it really wasn't that big of a secret after you acted to whole thing out for the whole school," I told them. I felt the vibrations of Remus's laugh ripple through my body and he hugged me tighter. He traced the cluster of freckles that were located at the joint where my thumb met the rest of my hand.

"My darling Lyla, we basically had no choice. The caliber of the work was just too superb not to take credit. I would have felt totally guilty if we didn't own our work," Sirius told me with a prestigious look in his eyes. Alexa just rolled her eyes as she continued to play with his hair.

"Exactly how much trouble did you guys get into anyway?" Alexa questioned, smoothing back Sirius's ebony locks in an attempt to tame the unruly strands.

"Let's just say that we have a date with McGonagall every Saturday for the next twenty or so years," Sirius said casually, like punishment didn't even phase him anymore. "Personally, I don't necessarily see it as a bad thing. I mean Minnie is a fox," he said with a grin. Alexa quickly smacked him in the back of his head.

"We also lost, oh I don't know, a few house points," Remus added, clearly leaving some details out.

"And how many is a few?" I asked Remus who quickly averted my gaze and looked to James who looked as if he was calculating the number in his head.

"Well you subtract that, multiply it by two, carry the four, take the square root…" James rambled on to himself. "Let's see, that would be about… pretty much all of them," he mumbled.

Mine, Blair and Alexa's eyes peeled open wide. "All of them?!" Alexa shouted. "You guys are complete idiots," she said slapping Sirius in the back of the head again. Sirius rubbed the back of his head tenderly and gave Alexa a look.

"Hey, hey, hey," Sirius said defending himself and his friends, "Not but a few moments ago, we were bloody heroes."

"Yeah, well that was before we found out that you three gits lost all of our house points," Alexa said bitterly.

"_Nearly_ all," Sirius quickly corrected, not that it made that much of a difference.

"I can't believe McGonagall would take away nearly _all_ of our points. I mean, she wants to win the House Cup just as bad as any of us," I said trying to fully realize the fact that Gryffindor was currently in last place for the Cup.

"That may be, but she couldn't very well ignore this one. The whole school did witness it after all," Remus said and I nodded in agreement. "But, according to McGonagall, we still have a chance to win, if we stay in line the rest of the year and go to all the detentions she schedules."

"We're doomed," Alexa said simply in a defeated voice covering her face with her hands.

"Wow, Alex, you clearly don't give us enough credit," James said in a hurt tone as he scooted closer to Blair.

"I'm just basing my assessment off of your previous track records. And to be honest, it looks quite grim," she informed him.

"Well, we are going to prove you wrong, just wait and see."

"Yeah, okay," Alexa said in great disbelief. Suddenly, something dawned on her. "So, does this Saturday detention business start this Saturday?" She had a concerned look on her face.

"No," Remus told us. "She said we could wait till next Saturday, considering."

Sirius looked around in a puzzled fashion. "Considering what?" he asked. We all just laughed at his joke.

Alexa jokingly nudged his shoulder, "Like you don't know." Sirius just slipped into a natural smile and joined in our laughter.

"Um, excuse us," we heard a voice say quietly. Our laughter dimmed and we looked toward the stairs leading up to the dormitories where the voice had originated. Standing before us were Bree and Andy. They stood there, shame drenching their beings and there was a certain sadness and embarrassment in their eyes. We all looked at each other not really sure what to do. "Can we have a moment?" Bree requested.

James nodded his head in a solemn manner. "Okay, here's the thing, we want a truce," Andy said. Sirius and Remus scoffed simultaneously. "Look, we know that you hate us, believe me I'm not too fond of you either." Bree elbowed Andy and gave her a look. Andy rolled her eyes. "Whatever, the point is, we want this to stop. Please."

We exchanged glances with each other soaking in the events unfolding before us. "You got us good. We were completely humiliated and we are ruined. We understand that we had it coming to us, but we beg that this all stop."

James shifted in his seat and cleared his throat. "If you do not retaliate, then we will not do anything more to you. But please understand that this by no means that you are forgiven or that we on good terms because we are not. This is not a truce but as long as you leave us alone we will leave you alone."

Bree let out a sigh. "Thank you," she said quietly.

Andy clapped her hands together, "Well, thanks for your time and we will just be on our way out of your lives." She turned to head back up the stairs to the dormitory.

Before turning to follow Andy, Bree said, "I really am sorry." With that she turned and quickly went off after Andy.

We all just sat there for a moment replaying what just happened back through our mind to make sure we heard everything correctly. "Well, that was surreal," Alexa said blinking her eyes.

"That's for sure," Sirius agreed. "Well, now that that's over; the night is young friends, what shall we get into this evening?"

At this, James pushed Blair's legs out of his lap and stood up with a commanding presence and folded his arms across his chest. "Absolutely nothing, Padfoot. We have a big game tomorrow and you three need to get you're rest, especially you two," he said pointing to Remus and Alexa.

"But James, it is way too early to go to bed and plus we will be fine tomorrow," Sirius tried to reason, but even I saw this was a battle already lost.

"It is definitely not too early for bed and we can not be too confident about tomorrow's game. Now, I want you three up in your beds now," he said definitively. Sirius went to protest but James just raised his hand to silence him and then pointed to the stairs leading to the dormitory. Alexa, Remus, and Sirius slowly and reluctantly got up from their spots and got ready to follow James.

Remus helped me up from my spot and said, "Are you going to go to bed too?"

"No, I'm not very tired. I think I'll just go to the library and get a couple of books. I want to make sure that I am very savvy for tomorrow's game," I joked with him. Remus smiled and then wrapped his arms around me. I tightened my grip pulling myself closer to his body. As he held me I couldn't help but think about Saturday when we would finally get some quality alone time. After all his concerns about Luke, however misled they were, we needed some time together.

"Remus you unhand her right now and get your ass upstairs. I'm not even joking with you right now," James warned Remus. I could feel Remus smile. He kissed the top of my head and squeezed me.

"See you in the morning," he said as he turned to report to James. He gave me a smile right before he disappeared up the stairs. James watched him as he ascended the stairs and then turned back to Blair and me.

"Ladies, I bid you goodnight. And Lyla, I hope you understand it's for the good of the team," he said to me. I nodded my head in understanding. "Great, see you two in the morning. Goodnight Bear," he said throwing a wink toward Blair. Blair returned his gesture with a smile.

Once Blair and I were the only two people remaining in the common room I turned to her. "So, Blair, would you care to accompany me to the library this fine evening?" I asked in a grand gesture.

Blair smiled and then wrinkled her nose. "As tempting as that sounds, I think I will just turn in for the night."

"Are you sure?" I questioned. "All things good happen in the library," I informed her.

She just laughed and turned toward the dorms. "I'll just take your word for it," she said waving as she walked away. When Blair was gone, I grabbed my soft blue sweater that was draped over the arm of one of the couches and headed off toward the library.

When I arrived at the library, to no surprise, it was completely empty. "Good evening, Madame Pince," I said to our librarian who was sitting behind her large desk at the front of the library.

"Well good evening, Ms. Parker. What brings you to the library this evening?" she questioned with a sweet smile on her face.

"Oh, well, I just needed to get a couple of books and I love being in the library when no one else is, it's very quiet and peaceful," I told her.

"I definitely know what you mean, dear. Well, just get whatever you like. If you need anything just feel free to ask." I thanked her and then headed off through the various stacks of books. The library at night was probably one of my most favorite places. It was dead silent and let you be alone with the books and your thoughts. Don't get me wrong, I loved hanging out with my friends, but sometimes I just needed sometime with myself.

As I perused the countless aisles of books, I was able to collect three books all about quidditch and even one on how to go about announcing it. As I carried the stack of books, I slowly made my way back to a deserted table all the way in the far back corner of the library. I set the four books down on the table and then gently pulled one of the chairs at the tables out and took a seat.

I flipped through the pages of the various books I had picked out but I found that I couldn't really concentrate. My mind kept wandering to nowhere in particular; it just drifted. The one book had said that I needed to keep the commentating interesting. Well, I'm sure I could do that. I'm a pretty loquacious person so I'm sure I could keep it entertaining, I mean the game being interesting kind of took care of it's self. As I turned the page to continue the reading I heard a strange noise coming from somewhere nearby. I looked around but saw nothing.

My eyes returned to the pages and they absentmindedly scanned the page, not actually reading any of the words. The noise came again. My head snapped up, but again there was nothing in sight that could have made the noise. I slowly got up from my seat and moved around the table. I peered up the center aisle of the library toward the front desk. Madame Pince was still at her post, filing what I'm sure were obsolete papers. I shook my head telling myself that it was just my mind playing tricks on me, that there was really no noise. I returned to my seat and leaned my cheek up against my hand.

As my head rested against the support of my hand, I suddenly became a bit sleepy. I quickly took a peek at my watch that read eight forty-five, still too early to head back to the dorms. I repositioned the book in front of me and tried to force myself to continue reading but before I knew it, my eyelids were easing shut. Drifting off into sleep, I began to picture the game tomorrow and my commentating. In my dreams, I was awesome. I just hoped that my dream would be a reality.

Falling into a deeper sleep, my head started to fall along with it. My head started slipping out of my hand, but I was too far into my unconscious state to even notice. It was not until my head fell completely out of the cup my hand had created, that I was startled into awareness. I jerked my head up and abruptly opened my eyes only to be startled again. Suddenly, there was a figure sitting before me.

I jumped in my seat a bit and quickly covered my mouth to stifle the squeal that tried to escape. Once I realized who it was, I calmed myself and uncovered my mouth. "Luke, you scared me," I told him, bringing my hand to my heart and taking deep breaths.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," he said with a smile. "I was looking for a book when I saw you back here. I thought you were reading, but on closer analysis, I found that you were asleep."

I laughed a bit, trying to imagine the sight of me sleeping in the library. "Yeah, I just dozed off for a minute, couldn't really concentrate," I admitted.

He nodded his head and then narrowed his eyes on the books that were scattered before me. "So, what was so interesting that you fell asleep while reading?" he asked grabbing the book closest to him. It was a book on the rules of quidditch. He quickly scanned the page that it was opened to and then looked up at me quizzically. "Thinking about going pro?" he joked.

I snatched the book away from him and sent him a look letting him know that I did not appreciate the sarcasm. "No," I informed him, "I am the new announcer for the quidditch games and I was just reviewing a few things before the big match tomorrow."

He nodded his head approvingly. "How very prudent of you," he said to me. "I should award you at least ten points for taking the extra time to be prepared."

I let out a laugh remembering earlier this evening. "Yeah, well we could definitely use the points," I said truthfully.

He gave me a curious look. "And why is that? I thought Gryffindor was in first place."

"You were correct up until about late Monday afternoon," I told him shaking my head. "As of right now, I believe we are dead last."

"How is that even possible?" he asked not believing that it could be true. "How could all the other houses get enough points to surpass you?" He clearly wasn't following.

I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms. "Ah, but there's the catch. The other houses didn't gain points, but we virtually lost all of ours." His eyes widened and his jaw dropped a bit. I nodded my head in confirmation that it was indeed true. "I'm sure you received one of the flyers on Monday, correct?" I asked and he nodded his head. "Well, that was the work of three fourths of the Marauders.

He raised his eyebrow giving me that look that he gave me the first time that we talked in his office. "I know what you're thinking but just let it go Luke. They're my friends and I'm not getting into trouble." He threw his hands up in the air in surrender.

"I'm not saying anything," he said defending himself and trying to save his skin.

"Yeah, yeah, but you were thinking it," I called him out. He just smiled at me. "Okay, getting off that subject, how are you doing? Is it going more smoothly now?" I asked leaning forward resting my elbows on the table.

He shrugged his shoulders in an uninterested manner. "I don't know, it's going okay I guess. Most of the guys still seem to hate me and I can't seem to get the girls to pay attention. Their minds just seem to be focused on something else." I just sat there and smiled as his naivety. How could he not put the pieces together? "What?" he questioned upon seeing my smile.

"You really don't see what the problem is?" I asked. He just shook his head. "Well to be frank with you, all the girls think you're dreamy and can't concentrate during class because they're too busy fantasizing about you and all the guys don't like you because you are the obsession of every girl."

He brought his hand up to his face and rubbed his jaw as he pondered what I said. "Wow, that is quite eye opening," he said, still a little dazed. "Well, I never notice you having that problem," he told me with a smirk and a glint in his clear blue eyes. I just shook my head at him with a smile. "What, you don't think I'm _totally_ dreamy?" he asked in a silly way.

I kept myself from laughing and just crossed my arms shrugging my shoulders. "Hmm, I don't really see it," I said, my nose turned up a bit with a scrutinizing look on my face. He just started laughing and I too started to laugh. It was true though. I mean, I would admit that he was a nice looking guy, but I just didn't see him like that. I saw him just like I saw Sirius and James.

"Ouch," he said holding his heart, "that hurts, but I'm sure I'll live." I nodded my head in reassurance. "So, all-knowing Lyla, tell me what can I do to capture the hearts and minds of my students?"

I tapped my finger to my lips in contemplation. "Well, you could let me completely disfigure your face. No girl would want you then, and I'm sure I could find some pleasure in it," I said jokingly.

He looked at me a little shocked. "I won't lie, that's a bit creepy, but what else do you got? My mom would kill me if I came home disfigured."

I shrugged my shoulders, saying 'well, whatever floats your boat'. After that, I got serious. "I mean, just keep being yourself, in time I'm sure they'll all see past the school girl crush nonsense and see you for the wonderful teacher that you are."

"Yeah, that seems easier said than done," he said in a defeated tone.

"You could always try bringing up that you have a girlfriend in casual conversation, that will knock out at least some of the girls," I told him hoping that it would be at least a bit more helpful.

"But I don't have a girlfriend," he told me. He clearly wasn't getting it.

"They don't know that," I said trying to bring him up to speed. He laughed and bowed his head.

"I will definitely try that. Thanks," he said, sounding truly grateful.

"Hey, it's no big deal, I just happen to be an expert on teenage girls," I said shrugging my shoulders.

"No, I mean, thank you for everything. For being my friend, for giving me somebody to talk to, and making me laugh. You have truly made this transition a whole lot easier," he told me an appreciative look in his gaze. "I truly consider you to be a good friend, Lyla."

I smiled slightly. "Really, Luke, it's no problem. I'm happy to do it. I think of you as a friend to and I enjoy spending time with you." I looked down at my watch and saw that it had gotten rather late. "Well, I should probably head off to bed, big day tomorrow." I stood from my seat and closed all the books that I had gathered.

As I went to collect all the books in my arms, Luke put his hand out to stop me. "You go ahead, I'll take care of these," he instructed.

"Oh, no, it's not that big of a deal," I told him waving him off.

"I don't mind really. Besides, you need you're rest," he said with a smirk. I returned his smirk and nodded my head in compliance. I handed him the books and said my goodbyes. "See you tomorrow at the game, I know you'll do great."

I turned to face him but continued walking backward. "Wish me luck," I said a bit louder than intended.

"You don't need luck," he said simply and then disappeared behind one of the massive shelves. I turned back around and quickly made my way back to the comfortable confines of Gryffindor Tower. I quietly entered the common room but it was completely deserted. I almost started laughing at the thought of James making the whole house go to bed early so his team could get some sleep. I crept up the steps to my dormitory. All the bed curtains were drawn around my bed so I quickly changed and then slid under my covers pulling my own curtains closed. Almost as soon as my head hit the pillow, I fell fast asleep.

For some reason, the next morning I woke up very abruptly. There was no loud noise or jostling to wake me, there was just something inside me that told me I needed to get up now because something was out of place. I parted the curtains of my bed to check for Blair and Alexa, but they were already gone.

I pulled myself from my warm bed and put on several layers of maroon and gold clothing. After brushing my hair, which had grown rather long, I grabbed my scarf, gloves and hat and headed down to the common room. The common room was full of people bustling around, excited about the match later on. I did a quick scan of the room to see if I could find Alexa or Blair. However, I didn't have to look far, seeing as James practically assaulted me.

"You fix him right now!" he said angrily and anxiously.

I was taken aback for a moment. "Wha--, James, what are you talking about? Fix who?" I asked so confused as to what was going on.

"Remus!" he said as if I should know what he was talking about. "Fix him, you make him better."

Confused I decided to get James, who had a crazed look in his eyes, to start from the beginning. "Okay, James, I'm going to need you to calm down. Now, tell me what's going on."

James had a deranged smile on and said, "What's wrong, you ask?" He grabbed my upper arm and pulled me with him over to our usual couches where I could see everyone else sitting, all of them looking quite odd. Remus looked like he was about ready to kill someone and Sirius and Alexa looked like they were totally wasted. "Well, I got my whole team in bed early and I stressed the importance of this game. I went to bed confident in my team.

"I wake up this morning to find Remus pissed off, ready to punch the first person who walked by him. He informs me that he doesn't want to play." I looked over to Remus who went me a scowl. Still completely flummoxed, I looked back to James. "Then I go to get Sirius and I send Blair to get Alexa. I thought maybe they would know what the hell was going on, but no," James continued to ramble, "They don't even know where they are!" I now looked to Alexa and Sirius who were slumped against each other half asleep.

"They thought it would be a good idea to defy their captain and sneak out and do who knows what. I mean staying up to the wee hours of the night and sucking each other's face off seems like a splendid idea right before a _huge_ game. Everything is blowing up in my face and I can't handle this right now! I want you to fix it, fix it all." James took a deep breath and put his hands on his hips. Blair shook her head and her eyes were asking me for help as well.

I quickly took it all in and tried to process it. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "Okay, Blair, take Sirius and Alexa to the kitchens and get them some coffee, not a lot, just enough to wake them up and then give them a lot of water and orange juice," I instructed. Blair nodded her head intently and then prodded Alexa and Sirius until they followed her. "Now, James, I want you to go up to your dorm, drink some water, take a whole bunch of deep breaths and just sit down."

"Lyla! I cannot be doing all these trivial things at a time like this. I need to be getting my team ready," James complained.

"James, you asked me to fix this, so just trust me. Just take some time, do what I said, and I will take care of the rest. I will make sure the team is ready. I will make sure they are well hydrated and mentally prepared," I tried to calm him by acting like I knew what to do. James nervously nodded his head and then turned to go to his dorm.

I turned back to see Remus still scowling in his chair. I took a seat in the chair next to him and just sat there for a moment. "Breathing and orange juice aren't going to fix me," he said spitefully. What had gotten into him?

"Remus, why did you tell James you weren't going to play?" I asked in a sincerely concerned voice.

"I just don't really feel like playing games right now," he seethed. He lifted his gaze and looked at me with an intensity that bore straight through me.

"What's wrong?" I asked placing my hand on top of his hand that was gripping the leather arm of the chair he was sitting in.

He pulled his hand away and I felt a pang in my heart. "Like you don't know," he said accusingly.

I ran my hands through my hair and then brought my fingertips to my temples trying to figure out what could be wrong. I threw my hands down in frustration. "Obviously I don't, Remus!" The tone in my voice came across much harsher than I intended. "I have no idea why you're pissed, or why you're acting this way, or why all of a sudden you seem like you hate me. But I wish you'd let me in on it."

"It's because of him!" he said moving angrily toward me. I moved back deeper into the chair; I had never seen Remus like this. "Professor Wolfe, Luke," he said disgusted.

"Remus, I thought we were past this," I said, wondering why this hatred returned randomly. "I already told you that it's not like that. He is a teacher."

"I saw you two in the library last night," he said sitting back in his seat. I lowered my head and closed my eyes.

"You saw me in the library with a teacher. It's really not that out of the ordinary Remus," I said on the verge of crying because this all was just so ridiculous.

"Not that late at night, with him. That is not ordinary at all. I saw how he was looking at you," he said sadly. Remus shook his head and then looked away from me. I watched him for a few moments. For whatever reason, Remus just couldn't understand my relationship with Luke. I hated seeing him like this and it made me sad. I carefully took his hand in mine. I intertwined our fingers and waited for him to look at me.

When he finally looked at me I gave him a smile and said, "Remus, you know that I love you. You and only you. I promise you that what you saw last night was nothing and that I absolutely have zero feelings for Luke." He looked down at our linked hands and traced the cluster of freckles the same as he had done countless times before. He smiled at me and then pulled me over onto his lap. I put my arms around his neck as he wrapped his around my waist.

"I'm sorry," he said softly leaning his head on my body.

"Let's just forget about this, okay?" I asked as I stroked the hair at the base of his neck. He nodded his head silently. "Now, if I don't get you ready for this game James is going to kill me." Remus laughed and lifted his head to see me smiling.

"You should have seen him when I told him I wasn't going to play today," Remus said with a smirk. "He was completely mental, I literally thought he was going to throw this one second year out the window." I couldn't help but giggle. I hopped up off of Remus's lap and then helped him up.

"Can you go get the rest of the team and start getting them ready. Um, make sure they are drinking water," I said. He smiled at me a bit. "I'm not real good at this whole captaining thing. All I know is that you all need to remain hydrated."

"We can run through some plays," he said helping me out.

"Yeah, that sounds good," I said snapping my fingers. "I'm going to go check on James." Remus nodded his head and then headed off to round up the team. I quickly ran up the stairs to James's dorm. When I opened the door, I found James sitting on his bed with several glasses of water surrounding him and he was mumbling to himself with a thoughtful expression on his face. I slowly approached him and took a seat next to him on his bed.

I put my hand on his back. "How are you doing, James?" I asked making sure to keep my voice soft and level, so I wouldn't upset him.

He took a deep gulp of water and swallowed it slowly. "I'm doing much better," he said, but I could still tell that he was freaking out.

"James, what's up? You've never been like this before a game. Granted, Remus threatened not to play and Alexa and Sirius are a bit out of it, but still, to be honest, you're a bit scary."

"Lyla, everything is riding on this match, we have to win," he said looking at me worriedly.

I just smiled consolingly. "Well, Remus is back to new, and the whole team is together and getting ready. Everything is going to be fine. I know you guys are going to do great, there's no way you can lose." Oh, crap, what was I doing? I was filling his with false hope. We definitely could win, but there was no guarantee. Oh well, what's done is done.

"Thanks Lyls, you really saved me with this one," he said pulling me into a hug. I patted him on his back and returned his hug.

"Now, your team needs their captain. People are starting to head down to the pitch so you guys should head to the locker rooms," I advised. James nodded, gave my leg a squeeze and then stood up confidently from his bed pulling me along with him.

Down in the locker room, the air was filled with anxiety, tension, and sweat. The team, along with Blair and I, sat around in a semicircle in front of James who paced back and forth in silence. "Okay, team, I know I don't need to tell you this, but we need to win this game. As many of you probably know, Gryffindor currently finds itself in a sticky position. There should be no blame here, but pretty much the whole house is kind of pissed about it. Winning this game will not only keep our streak going but it will also set us back on the track to getting out points back." The team just watched James as he talked, almost more to himself than the team. "Let's all take a moment to collect our thoughts and then we'll go out there and win."

The team dispersed for quiet time and Blair and I quietly slipped out and headed to the announcer's tower where I would be announcing the game, with Blair by my side. After taking our seats in front of the microphone and the score tally, I tightened my scarf to protect myself from the biting wind. Blair smiled at me and then McGonagall signaled for me to begin.

Well, here it goes. "Good afternoon, and welcome to today's quidditch match: Gryffindor versus Slytherin." A rumble of cheers and boos filled the pitch and hearing was nearly impossible. "Walking onto the field first is the Gryffindor team led by captain James Potter." Blair began to cheer loudly and I could tell the microphone was picking it up and amplifying it for the crowd. I saw James look up at us and smile. As you'll notice, Potter is not playing, due to his injuries in the previous match and there has also been a change in keeper. Taking Potter's place will be Alexa Parker," I said, "my sister," I added, suddenly feeling super proud of my little sister. "And taking Caradoc Dearborn's place for the time being is Remus Lupin.

"While there are several changes for the team, I fully believe that they are just as good as before and that they are going to do splendidly," I said trying to give the team moral support. McGonagall game me a look and I quickly continued, "Anyways, now entering is the team from Slytherin led by Avery, their captain." I paused. I was at a complete loss for words; I mean I didn't really know any of the Slytherins. "Well, that's really all I have to say about them, so let's get this game going." I looked over to Blair who was just laughing at me.

"As the teams meet at the center of the pitch to shake hands there is a bit of unsportsmanlike conduct coming from the Slytherin team, especially Regulus Black. Now, I think that's just a shame. Sports were created to build relationships between different people, and to disrespect that is just horrible."

"Miss Parker," McGonagall scolded.

I mouthed the word sorry as I bit my lip. "Okay, let's play some quidditch. The teams are mounted on their brooms and in the air. The whistle sounds and they're off!" I said enthusiastically. "Gryffindor gets the ball first. McKinnon has the quaffle and is speeding down the pitch with Parker on her side. She ducks past Avery and passes the quaffle to Parker." Oh, crap, please let Alexa catch it. I gasped. "And she caught it!" I exclaimed. Blair erupted with cheers as Alexa passed it back to Marlene. "Marlene shoots and she scores!!" The crowd clamored with joy. Alexa flew over near to where Blair and I were sitting.

"Let's not act so surprised when I do something right," she yelled at me with a smile. I returned her smile and gave her thumbs up.

"Was that not just a spectacular goal, ladies and gentlemen? It was a particularly splendid assist by Alexa Parker," I said swelling with honor that Alexa was my sister. "For those of you who know her, you know that she isn't the most graceful and is rather clumsy. This is just a pleasant surprise to see her not fall of her broom."

"The game," McGonagall said pointing to the pitch.

"Right, well, Slytherin has the ball. McNabb has the quaffle and is barreling down the pitch, taking out some Gryffindors in the process. I'm pretty sure that is an illegal action but I digress. He tosses the quaffle to Avery who is flanking him to the right." I watched anxiously as they got closer and closer to Remus and the goal posts. "Avery dodges Thomas and goes for a shot. Oh, I can't watch," I said squeezing one of my eyes shut. Remus swiftly moved in front of the quaffle with ease and caught it. "And Remus stops the shot! He saved it! Blair, did you see that?!" Blair nodded her head excitedly and whooped for Remus. As Remus threw the quaffle back out to Marlene, I looked up and saw Carry circling up above, with Regulus not too far away, scanning the pitch and sky for the snitch.

The score yo-yoed back and forth for most of the game. One minute Gryffindor would be ahead and then Slytherin would score out of nowhere; most of the time they played dirty to get their points. One time, they hit a beater right at Remus and he nearly fell off his broom. They swooped in as he was dangling from his broom and scored. Believe me, I was livid. It will be a miracle if McGonagall allowed me to commentate again; I had to admit, I was a bit bias.

As the two teams continued to battle it out, I suddenly saw a flash from above. Carry had taken off toward the ground. Regulus must have noticed as well because he took off after her in a matter of seconds. "It seems that Carry Grant has spotted the snitch! As she pursues it, Black, Regulus that is, trails her, not looking like he can catch her." Carry dodged the various players in her way with precision and adroitness. I could tell that she was getting very close when she outstretched her hand. Just before she was going to grab the snitch and win, I observed one of Slytherin's beaters aiming a bludger right at her. "Carry, watch out!" I yelled instinctively, completely forgetting that I was announcing. Carry looked over her shoulder and saw the bludger rushing toward her.

She pulled back from the snitch and dipped lower to the ground to evade the bludger. Once it had passed she regained her bearings and saw that Regulus had somewhat gained on her. She quickly found the snitch again and pushed forward. As she neared the snitch yet again, Regulus sided up next to her. She reached out to grasp it, but was suddenly knocked by Regulus. Carry lost balance and fell the few feet to the ground. Boos erupted from the crowd mixed with a fainter cheering noise, coming from the Slytherins I'm sure. Everyone watched anxiously as Carry hit the ground. James quickly ran over to her from where he had been watching. When he reached her, Carry sat up and raised her hand, the snitch safely closed in it.

"Gryffindor wins!" I shouted joyously. "We win, we win!" Blair and I chanted together jumping up and down. The Gryffindors in the stands went wild as the Gryffindor team flew over to where Carry and James were and they began to celebrate. I threw down the microphone and Blair and I rushed down to the pitch. We ran over to the team and I jumped into Remus's waiting arms.

"You did amazing!" I told him brushing some pieces of hair off of his sweaty face.

"So did you," he said with a smile. I pulled him into another hug and then he set me back onto the ground. We turned back to the team and some other people from Gryffindor who had made their way onto the pitch as well. Alexa rushed over and gave me a huge hug, making sure she rubbed her sweatiness all over me.

James cleared his throat and everyone quieted down. His eyes were filled with joy and wonder. He cleared his throat, as if he was choking back tears. "I just want to thank the team for playing amazingly. And the fans, without you we would have nothing." Everyone listened intently with their arms draped around each other. "This day is just so freaking monumental, and there is only one thing to do now. Let's party." Cheers spilled forth at an amazing volume. The team headed off to the locker rooms, people cheering them the whole way. While most people headed back up to the castle to change and get ready to celebrate, Blair and I stayed behind to wait.

As James so aptly put it, it was time to party; and that's exactly what we were doing. The whole house, first year all the way up to seventh, was gathered in the common room. Music was blaring and the noise of chatter was nearly just as loud. I have no idea how they pulled this shindig off so quickly, but I was told not to ask, so I'll just enjoy it.

We all just sat around as various people came over to offer their congratulations.

"Ah, victory tastes so sweet," James said as he took a sip from his cup. We all just laughed and smiled. I don't think we had stopped smiling since Carry caught the snitch. "It was like a beautiful dance," he said looking dreamily off into space, no doubt replaying the whole thing in his mind. "Everyone was just flowing and they did great."

"And Remus and Alexa did freaking amazing," Sirius said. "You were so good," he said to Alexa kissing her on the cheek.

"Please, I know," she said self-confidently. Blair and I rolled our eyes, laughing. Alexa hopped up from her seat and grabbed Sirius. "Come with me to get another drink," she instructed. Sirius just willingly followed. I smiled to myself at seeing how whipped Sirius had become; who would have guessed it.

Remus put his arm around me and I leaned into his body, kicking my feet up onto the other end of the couch. "So, what would you like to do for Valentine's Day?" he asked as he absentmindedly played with the sapphire ring he had given me.

"I just want to spend it with you," I told him, smiling up at him.

He smiled back hugging me to him tighter. "Well, it's a date. You and me the whole day." We sat there for a few minutes just holding each other, and then I got thirsty.

"I'm going to go get something to drink," I said sitting up and breaking loose of his tight hold. I stood up and fixed my shirt that had inched up a bit in the back. As I rounded the end of the couch Remus grabbed my hand. I stopped and looked at him. He brought my hand up to his lips and gently kissed it. I smiled like a fool and then continued to get a beverage. I quickly filled up a cup with some butterbeer and turned back to Remus. I stopped in my tracks and just looked at what was before me.

Remus was in the same spot that he was in before, but where I had been sitting were two girls and another one sitting on the arm of the couch where Remus had been leaning. Oh. Hell. No. My eyes narrowed angrily on the three girls as I tried to figure out who they were. I recognized the girl sitting close to Remus on the couch immediately. Her name was Courtney, she was a seventh year Gryffindor and she was about as loose as Sirius had been before Alexa, maybe even more so. The other two were her little lackeys that always followed her around, Jordan and Annabelle.

I quickly stalked over to where my boyfriend was sitting before Courtney or any other girl for that matter could work their slutty ways on my boyfriend. I stopped right in front of the couch and tapped my foot impatiently. "Remus, you were so great out there," Courtney said all seductively. "You have to be super strong and muscular to be a keeper." She reached out for one of Remus's arms to feel his muscles. I cleared my throat and Remus looked up at me in shock and Courtney looked over with a smile. "Oh, hey Lyls, I didn't see you there," she said in a tone that I could have just slapped her for.

"Hey, Court," I said as bitchy as possible. "What do you think you're doing?" I asked. Remus just looked back and forth between Courtney and me.

"We were just telling Remus how great he looked out there today," she said batting her eyelashes at Remus. This bitch was practically rubbing herself all over _my_ boyfriend. Bitch! This had to stop right now.

"Oh, well, thanks," I said sarcastically. "But I think you guys should leave now."

"Come now Lyla," she said smiling at me like we were best friends. "We're just having a nice chat with Remus, no big deal."

"Yeah, don't care," I said, having had enough. "I want all you to get your skank asses away from my boyfriend and never come back." I raised my eyebrow and pointed for them to leave. Courtney pursed her lips in anger and then nodded to her two friends and then she got up slowly and walked away, staring me down the whole way.

When they were gone I took my seat back next to Remus and took a sip of my drink, still a little flustered by the whole ordeal. I could see Remus watching me from the corner of my eye. "You know, you're kind of hot when you're jealous," he said smiling at me putting his arm around me.

"Shut up," I said taking another drink. Remus just laughed and kissed my cheek.

"Moony! Mate, I saw you with all those girls up on you," Sirius said as he dropped his body into a nearby chair.

"Don't encourage him with your deviant ways," I warned Sirius. Sirius just laughed. I saw Alexa coming over and I waved for her to hurry up. As she came over she bumped into the side of the couch that we were on and she started busting forth with laughter. I looked at my cackling sister curiously and then looked to Sirius who was shaking his head.

"What the hell is wrong with her?" I asked as Alexa finally maneuvered her way around the couch. She plopped down next to me and leaned her head on my shoulder as she clutched her cup to her chest.

"She may or may not be a little drunk," Sirius said taking another drink from his own cup.

My eyes widened as I looked over at my drunken sister who was now playing with my hair. I quickly slapped her hand away, which only brought back the laughter. "You gave her alcohol? I asked accusingly.

"I told her not to but she insisted on having some," Sirius said, trying to play the victim. I got up from my spot and smacked Sirius on the head. "Ow! What was that for?"

"For getting my sister drunk!" I exclaimed. "Look at her," I said shaking my head. Alexa had fallen over after I had gotten up and her head was now in Remus's lap.

Alexa rolled over to look up at Remus. She slowly reached her hand up to his face and put her finger over his lips. "Remus," she whispered rather loudly. "Don't tell my sister, but I think I'm a little drunk." She started laughing again and Remus just nodded his head and grabbed her hand from his face. He grabbed the rest of her body and sat her up straight. "Lyla would kill me if she knew." Alexa looked over and saw me standing before her. She got excited and grabbed my hand and pulled me down next to her.

"Oh, hey Lyla, what's up?" she asked me. She then turned to everyone else and said, "Everyone, just act cool." I laughed a little because I just couldn't help it.

"Hey Alex, how you feeling?" I asked as she draped her body on mine and hugged me.

"I feel fantastic!" she said happily. "It's like the whole world is made of sunshine," she told me in all seriousness. I nodded my head and then looked over to Sirius who was just laughing his ass off, along with James.

"Exactly how much alcohol did she have?" I asked, pushing Alexa's hand away as she tried to poke my face.

"I only let her have a little bit, I swear, it wasn't even that much," he informed me.

"Yeah, well, that was enough I suppose. As you can see, Alexa doesn't drink a whole lot, and this is why," I said. I pushed her hand away yet again. Alexa tapped me on the shoulder and beckoned me to lean closer.

I leaned over and she said, "Hey, that's my boyfriend," she pointed over to Sirius. "God, isn't he sexy?" Sirius smiled broadly as these drunken revelations sprang forth.

Alexa went to get up but I quickly grabbed her and sat her back down. "I think it would be a good idea if you stayed here," I told her. She sat back down and pouted. "Alexa," I said turning her toward me and making her look me in the eyes, "You've had a little bit too much to drink, haven't you?"

Alexa's face saddened. "Yeah," she drawled. "I'm so sorry, Lyla. Don't tell anybody," she pleaded. "Especially Cleo," she said. Cleo was her owl by the way. "If she found out she may never deliver my letters or parcels ever again. I love getting mail." I assured her I wouldn't tell Cleo and then she laid her head on my shoulder.

Alexa eventually fell asleep, after a few more hours of nonsensical rambling. "Alright, I think it's time we get her to a bed," Sirius said standing up from his seat. The party had died down quite a bit and there were only a few clusters of people remaining, all of them just sitting in various spots. Sirius scooped Alexa up in his arms and then said goodnight to us. Remus, James, Blair, and I just remained in the common room sitting by the fire and relaxing.

We talked for some time, but the heat from the fire, combined with the tiring day was just enough to make me fall asleep. I told myself that I would just close my eyes for a second, but that second quickly turned into minutes. I continued to listen to James and Remus talk about various things, but nothing at this point was interesting enough to wake me from my slumber. I silently drifted off to sleep in Remus's arms.

I woke up when I went to roll over but discovered that I couldn't. When I opened my eyes, I found Remus's arms around me and his body behind mine on the same couch that we were on the night before. We must have both fallen asleep on the couch. I smiled to myself and then closed my eyes again, wanting to enjoy for the moment where I was. My attempt to move must have woken up Remus. His hold tightened and I felt him move his legs to stretch them out. "Good morning," he said groggily. He gently kissed my temple and then he found my lips.

"Good morning," I said against his lips. I held onto his arms tight as I felt a bit of a morning chill.

"Happy Valentine's Day," he whispered in my ear as he nuzzled my neck. I began to laugh softly due to the gentle tickle. I turned my body, still in his arms, to face him. I buried myself deep into his chest to try and capture some of his warmth. I breathed in deep his dark musky scent and reveled in the moment, wishing we could stay like this forever.

I finally came to terms with the fact that we would have to get up at some point, no matter how much I didn't want to, and besides we were randomly just sleeping in the common room and that could get awkward real quick. I let out a sad sigh. "Alright, we should probably get up."

Remus immobilized me with his arms. "Uh, uh," he said, his eyes still closed. "I want to stay right here all day," he stubbornly decided.

I rested my head back on his chest. "Remus, we cannot stay on this couch all day," I sadly informed him; Lord knows I wish we could.

"Fine," he said. I looked up at him, thinking that he had conceded much too easily. "Your room or mine?" he asked with a devious smile. I just rolled my eyes and snuggled closer, not being able to muster the strength to get up. "Come on," he started to beg, "We can get some food from the kitchens and just lock ourselves away for the whole day." I wasn't going to lie that was an awful tempting option.

"Yours," I sleepily mumbled into his chest, finally giving in. I could feel the feel the huge smile spreading across his face. I slipped out of his grasp and then grabbed his hand leading him up to his dormitory. I swung open the door and Alexa and Sirius were still sleeping, in the same bed I might add.

"Oi! You two, get up and get out," Remus said very loudly as I went and took up residence on his bed. "Come on now, let's move it." Remus threw back the covers to Sirius's bed and both he and Alexa squirmed and frowned from the sudden impact of the cold.

"You're a dick," Sirius said curling up into fetal position in a feeble attempt to internalize some heat. "Why are you doing this to me?" he asked opening one of his eyes to look at Remus.

"It's just time to get up, and Lyla and I are spending the day together, in here," he said somewhat quietly. Alexa leaned up in the bed and gave me a sly look. I just stuck my tongue out at her. She grabbed one of Sirius's sweatshirts and slipped it on over her t-shirt.

"Will you two at least have some breakfast with us before you completely hole yourself up in here?" Alexa asked prying Sirius out of bed and throwing him a long-sleeved shirt to put on.

Remus looked over to me and I shrugged my shoulders, figuring it was the least we could do today to be social with our friends. Sirius rubbing his eyes motioned to the door, "Shall we?" We all filed out of the dorm and then exited through the portrait hole where we conveniently found Blair and James who looked to be quite smitten on this day.

As we neared the Great Hall Blair said, "So have you guys given your—."

"Blair!" Alexa exclaimed cutting her off. "We can't talk about this because I know that I would totally spill the beans and it would ruin the whole surprise, so let's just not say anything." I smiled at my sister, but she and I both knew that she would more than likely tell Sirius what she got him before she gave it to him.

"What are we talking or not talking about, as it were?" Sirius asked, still acting like he had no clue.

Alexa smiled at him. "Exactly," she said giving him a wink. Sirius laughed nervously and just continued walking. Speaking of gifts, I really hoped that Remus liked what I got him. It was so hard buying anything for the boy. Whenever I tried to get some sort of idea of what he may want, he just said he didn't need anything. It was quite infuriating.

We took our seats at the Gryffindor table and began to fill up on breakfast. "So, what are you two doing today?" Alexa asked Blair and James.

James and Blair looked at each other. "Well, we figured we would maybe just go down to Hogsmeade and hang around," Blair said. "You guys are welcome to come as well."

"Yeah, we'll come," Alexa said nodding to Sirius, letting him know that that is what they had decided.

"And you two?" James asked taking another helping of eggs.

"No, we will not be joining you," he said sternly. "We have other plans." James and Blair just nodded their heads and smiled. Suddenly we heard a commotion overhead and a swarm of owls soared in.

"Oh, goodie, I hope I got something from my mom," Blair squealed in excitement. There were more owls than usual and many of them were counting several packages. One owl in particular caught my eye. This owl was weighed down with so many packages that you could barely even see the owl and the poor thing was struggling to stay in the air.

"Hey, Pads, isn't that your owl?" Remus asked pointing to the burdened creature. Several owls landed around us, including my own and then the owl, that did turn out to be Sirius's landed, knocking several things over due to the large load it was carrying.

"What is all this?" Sirius asked as he took the first package from the owl. He opened it to find a box of chocolates. The next few contained various other types of candy. The gifts and packages just kept coming and coming. Upon closer inspection, Alexa and I found that they were all from various girls. Alexa gave me a look and then turned back to Sirius. "What could I have done to deserve all of these wonderful gifts?" Sirius asked, his face aglow with excitement.

We all looked at each other wondering how long Sirius was going to keep this charade of his going. That's when I suddenly realized, and I felt so stupid for not seeing this before, Sirius had no idea it was Valentine's Day and he completely forgot. James also realizing what was going on said, "Um, mate, on what day do people tend to get load of boxes of chocolate, especially in the shape of a heart?" he asked trying to lead him to the answer.

"Yeah," Sirius said, clearly knowing the answer, "But today's not…" He trailed of and slipped into thought. "Oh, shit." He quickly looked over to Alexa who looked thoroughly pissed.

"You actually forgot that today was Valentine's Day?" she spat.

Sirius sat there for a moment, trying to choose his words carefully. "Yes," he said with a guilty smile.

"You are such an idiot," Alexa fumed, abruptly getting up from the table. "I can't handle this right now." Alexa quickly turned and stormed out of the Great Hall. Blair and I gave Sirius a look and we took off after Alexa.

"Come on, you jackass," I heard James say as we walked away.

When we got back to our dorm, we found the door to be locked. The three boys had followed us and arrived a little after we did. I knocked on the door. "Alexa, are you okay in there?" I asked.

"No," Alexa said angrily.

"Well, can you let Lyla and I in so we can talk about this?" Blair asked putting her ear up to the door to hear better.

"Are you alone?" Alexa asked, taking caution.

Blair looked at the three boys behind us and then shrugged her shoulders at me. "It's just me and Lyla," she said. "And the guys," she added under her breath.

"What was that?" she asked. Damn her for having hearing like a bat.

"Just let us in, Alexa," I said. We waited for a few moments trying to hear what was going on inside our dorm. Slowly we hear the lock turn and we pushed open the door. We all entered into the room and Alexa got defensive immediately.

"You liars! You said you were alone," she said accusingly to Blair.

"Yeah, well, there it is," she said as she and I took a seat on Alexa's bed where she sat.

Sirius stepped forward with a stressed look on his face. "Alex, I am so sorry," he said sadly.

"How could you forget a day like today?" Alexa asked in a hurt tone. Sirius came over and sat down before Alexa.

"The truth is that this day has never meant anything to me until now. I haven't had to remember it because I was never serious enough with a girl to have to remember," he told her taking her hand. "Even though I forgot, know that I love you, and no holiday could express how much I care for you." At that moment I'm pretty sure the whole room did an internal 'aww'.

Alexa smiled, tears welling up in her eyes. She leaned forward and placed a kiss on Sirius's lips. "You are forgiven for now," she told him. "But know that you are walking on thin ice," she warned. Sirius smiled and then nodded. "Aw, I love you guys," Alexa said grabbing Blair and me.

Sirius went over to James and Remus and did the same. "I love you guys too," she said mushily.

"Get off me," James said pushing Sirius's arm off.

"Oh, James, stop being such a baby, this day is about love," Blair said, still sharing a hug with Alexa and me. "Love for your friends is included in this day." James rolled his eyes and then grabbed Sirius's arm and draped it back across his shoulders.

"Too right you are, Blair," Alexa said. "I think we should all spend the day together, so we can really appreciate our friendships and our loves."

"Nope, I will not have it," Remus said, trying to preserve our day that we had planned.

"Oh, Remy," Alexa said rushing over to him. She gathered him in a hug. "What could be better than spending a whole day with me and the friends that you love so much?"

"I could think of a few things," he said emotionless.

"Please, please, please come with us," Alexa pleaded. Remus looked over at me and I just rolled my eyes. "You and Lyla can have alone time later."

"Oh, fine, we'll come along," Remus said.

"Yay!" Alexa shouted hugging him again. She released Remus and then quickly changed tones. "Now, you three go get dressed while we get ready and then we will head on down to Hogsmeade." The three boys did as she said and exited our dorm. Alexa swung the door shut and we all quickly got changed so we could head on down to Hogsmeade.

It was a rather cold day and as we walked the cold air turned my nose red. I squeezed Remus's hand tighter and gave him a smile. "So, are you completely bummed that we changed our plans?" I asked.

He laughed a bit. "I was looking forward to being alone with you, but as long as I'm with you, it doesn't matter where we are or whom we're with," he said. He always knew what to say. "But, since we're alone at the moment," he said nodding to the other four up in front of us, "I will go ahead and give you this." He reached into his back pocket and pulled out what looked like a small book. "It's all about becoming a healer and stuff about being a healer," he said holding the book out.

I took the book and flipped through the pages. "Oh, Remus, thank you so much, it is perfect," I said going up on my tiptoes to give him a kiss while clutching his present to my heart. The book really was beautiful. It had a very ornate design on the front and it looked rather old. Was it sad that my perfect gift was a book? He smiled when he saw that I loved his gift.

I released his hand and opened my satchel to retrieve his gift. I put the book carefully and then grabbed Remus's gift. Before I pulled it out I said, "Now, it seems a little cliché, but there is a different reason behind it." Remus looked at me curiously. I pulled out bag and handed it to him. "It's that chocolate that you always like to have after a full moon," I told him. "You said that you didn't have much left, so."

Remus palmed the bag for a few moments and then took my hand back in his. "Have I ever told you that I love you?" he asked kissing my hand.

"Yeah, I think you've mentioned it a few times," I said coyly.

The Three Broomsticks was a warm haven and was more crowded than usual. We luckily found an empty table and quickly took our seats. We ordered some drinks and patiently waited for Madame Rosmerta to return. "Okay," Alexa said as she removed her scarf from around her neck, "Sirius, are you ready for your present?" Sirius smiled and nodded his head anxiously. Alexa dipped into her bag and brought out a fairly large rectangular shaped object covering in paper. Alexa handed the gift to Sirius and we all watched as he unwrapped it.

Underneath the paper was a beautiful silver picture frame with the most beautiful picture inside it. The picture was of Alexa and Sirius when we were I Christmas holiday, I remember taking the picture. They were sitting on the couch in the living room, Alexa in Sirius's lap and their heads were touching at the forehead and they were laughing. They looked so happy. Sirius just stared at the picture. "It's beautiful," Sirius said shifting his gaze from the picture to Alexa's face, which had the most gratifying smile on. They were exchanging several kisses when our drinks arrived.

Once everyone had a drink in hand James cleared his throat. "I propose a toast to great friendships, great loves, and beautiful women," he said so eloquently. We all raised our glasses and then took a drink. I couldn't help but think about how great this all was. I hadn't felt closer to this group of people until now. This moment somehow projected great hope for the future.

"Hey guys," somebody said from behind me. When I shifted in my seat, I saw Luke standing there, a drink in his hand. "I just wanted to congratulate you on a very impressive win," he said, raising his glass to James, Sirius, Alexa and Remus. James and Sirius gladly drank to that. Remus, however, just glowered at Luke. Luke then looked to me. "You did a wonderful job as well, Lyla. Probably the most interesting game I have ever watched." I smiled at him and the slight playful sarcastic tone that I was picking up.

"Oh my God," Remus muttered as he folded his arms defensively. I gave him a look and then turned back to Luke.

"Thank you very much," I replied. "How has your Valentine's Day been?" I asked, making friendly conversation.

"Well, I'm not spending it with who I would like to, but my on the upside, my mother sent me a lovely card and a huge box of chocolates," he said.

"You have got to be kidding me," Remus said looking up at Luke.

"Remus, please," I said putting my hand on his forearm.

"No, Lyla, it's okay, I should probably be going anyway," he said trying to avoid any sort of conflict.

"Even on Valentine's Day, I can't get my girlfriend all to myself because of you," Remus said bitterly to Luke.

"Remus, I don't know what you think is going on between Lyla and I, but I can assure you that it is not what you think," Luke explained.

"Look man," Remus said angrily, "Lyla says she has no feelings for you, and I trust her. But you sure as hell have made it clear that you have feelings for her and I don't trust you one bit."

"Remus, just stop this," I begged. This had all gone too far. No one was at fault here, but why couldn't Remus see that we were just friends?

"Why do you always defend him and take his side?" Remus asked defensively.

"I am not taking sides here Remus, there are no sides to take," I told him throwing my hands into the air. "Luke is my friend and you are my boyfriend. End of story."

"Lyla!" he said raising his voice. "You are completely blind. Why can't you see through his bullshit? It's pretty clear that he thinks of you as more than a friend." I covered my face with my hands and took a deep breath. When I opened my eyes, Remus as now standing up facing Luke. "He knows exactly what he's doing and this whole innocent bit is nothing but an act."

Luke took a step back. "Remus, I never meant to cause any trouble, but—."

"Stop lying," he spat cutting Luke off. "This is exactly what you want. You want us to fight. Do you think she is just going to realize that she should be with you, a teacher?" Remus took a step toward Luke and James quickly moved to where they were standing and pushed Remus back.

"Mate, you don't want to do this, he is a teacher," James said trying to calm Remus down. James then turned to Luke. "Professor Wolfe, I'm not telling you what to do, but I would suggest that you should leave now."

Luke nodded his head. "I'm sorry," he said before he set his glass down and left.

Remus sat back down in his chair, still fuming, and I just looked at him, angry. "Sweet Merlin, Remus, what were you going to do fight him? Fight a teacher?" I asked.

He turned toward me and grasped the arm of my chair. "If that's what it takes, Lyla. If that's what it takes for you to realize that he's in love with you."

"Why do you even keep bringing this up?" I asked, frustrated. "I have told you countless times how I feel about Luke, so why are you still hanging on to this foolish notion?"

Remus's eyes widened and he leaned forward. "Foolish?" he said with a laugh. "I'm not the only one who sees it Lyla; in fact I think that you're the only one who can't see it. James and Sirius see it and even random strangers know that something's not right with him." I looked over to James and Sirius who were sitting there guilty.

"So, you can't trust me to be friends with a teacher? You can't believe me when I tell you that I don't have feelings for him? Do you think that I am just going to shag my teacher? Do you really think that little of me, that you think I would do something like that and betray you?" I asked, feeling my eyes begin to burn as I tried to hold back the tears. "If that's how you see me," I said getting up from the table and taking a few steps toward the door, "Then I can't be here right now."

Remus ran his fingers through his hair in frustration and then slammed his fists down onto the table. "Moony, mate, don't waste you're time," Sirius said. "No matter what you say, girls are always going to do what they want and we just have to go with it."

Alexa suddenly stood up and came over to me pulling me into a hug. "I don't think you're the best person to be giving people advice on love, Sirius," Alexa said. "You forgot Valentine's Day."

Sirius's mouth dropped. "I said I was sorry and you said I was forgiven!" Sirius said.

"Yeah, well, I changed my mind," Alexa retorted.

"A typical woman," Sirius said leaning back in his chair.

"You are a pig," Alexa spat back at Sirius. I looked over at James and Blair who were just sitting there drinking their drinks.

"I tell you James," Sirius said looking over to James, "You got off easy with this one." He pointed to Blair. "She is so much easier to manage." James lifted his glass and then took a drink. Before he could swallow, Blair hit him and the liquid was spit from his mouth.

"What was that for?" James asked wiping his mouth and face off.

"You think you control me?" Blair asked.

"No, no, no, that's not what was said," James quickly said defending himself. "Sirius was just saying that I was lucky to be with you."

"Yeah?" Blair said pushing her seat back. "Let's see you control this," she said spitefully as she came over to join Alexa and me.

"Sirius, what the hell did you just do?" James asked his friend.

"Not me James, women, that's the problem," Sirius said. "They are completely psycho sometimes and you never know when they're going to turn on you."

Alexa stood there next to me taking deep breaths and shooting darts from her eyes at Sirius. "If you don't get me out of here very soon, I cannot be held accountable for my actions. I swear I might murder him." Blair and I quickly grabbed our stuff and ushered Alexa out of the pub before any more harm was done. Walking back to the castle, we were angry, tired, and just down right pissed. I just felt like screaming, so I did. Men!!!

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Baby Blue's Author's Note: So, she wrote this whole chapter in like two days. A round of applause should go out to my favorite co-author in the whole world. Anyways, I'm going to try my hardest to have another chapter done within the next three days. Once again, put us on shout and we'll greatly appreciate it.

Have a lovely day!


	27. But It's Falling Apart

Disclaimer: Well, as always, I'm pretty sure this belongs to Jo. If not, then we'd better get a patent down soon!

Baby Blue's Author Note: Well, it's been a time and a half writing this chapter. Once again, I'd like to apologize in advance for anything that seems a bit off. I definitely don't think this is my best chapter but I tried my hardest to make it work. It just wasn't what I wanted to write, but it had to be done to further the plot. Anyways, I've proof-read this about four or five times so it should be alright. If not, I'll apologize right now. ;-) So, enjoy this chapter. Drop us a review if you feel like brightening my day as well! Song title is song INTO YOUR ARMS by the Maine. Lovely band! Google them!

P.S.: Updates should go by a bit faster pretty soon. All college stuff will be done for us by the end of January!

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_"I'm Falling in Love, But it's Falling Apart."_

_Alexa's Point Of View_

"We don't deserve this," Blair said while she looked into the bottom of her teacup. The three of us were currently sitting at a crowded corner in Madame Puddifoots, the sappy little teahouse that was sitting across the street from the Hogshead and Three Broomsticks. I nodded along while watching all these bullshit couples around us. So many people were either looking lovingly at each other or holding hands and stealing kisses that I wanted to puke.

The cupid from above our table threw another handful of glitter, confetti hearts, and sprinkles at us. Shielding my hot cocoa from the confetti, I looked around once more before focusing myself back on my friends. Lyla looked forlornly out the window, gazing to where our boyfriends were probably still sitting inside the Three Broomsticks whining about us, and Blair was swirling her tea dregs as if they held the future. Well, this wasn't Divination, so I'd be extremely surprised if she found anything.

"They didn't even come after us," I muttered before standing up suddenly. My abrupt motion startled many of the people seated around us and I sent them an apologetic look before grabbing Lyla and Blair's hand. "It's time for change girls. My head is splitting open from this beautiful headache I seemed to have developed overnight and this lovey-dovey place isn't helping."

Making our way outside, we grabbed our jackets from the hooks they were hanging on and bundled up against the wind. Once outside, I turned towards my friends. "What's going on, Alexa? I don't really feel like playing games right now." My sister said in a resigned voice. Swinging my arm around her shoulder, I did the same to Blair and strode down the street.

"Let's just say that I am ready for a change. It's definitely not my fault that our boyfriends chose the most romantic day of the year to be total jackasses." We turned down the road towards Honeydukes and the Bookstore. On the other side of the street was a salon and I smiled when I saw it. "This is the start of a new me, brothers, and I ask that you all join me in some fun."

Blair saw Magical Methods of Masquerading before Lyla and smiled showing her teeth. "Brilliant, Alex! This will be the perfect fix to our depression." She began to skip down the road towards the beauty shop, waving at people on the streets and the people from our school that we happened to see.

Eventually it was just Lyla and I as we struggled to catch up with our overzealous friend. "Come on, Lyls. Remus knows he's in the wrong and he has no right to be such a douche bag to you when Professor Wolfe is a teacher and you two can obviously not have a relationship. Just because he's being a bitchy little girl about this it should not ruin your day." I lectured and the look on my sister's face marginally increased in happiness. "Like I said earlier, this day is not only about love for one's significant other, but also about love for friends. Love can be platonic and I want to celebrate that with you and Blair."

'It's just not fair. Remus and I have been together long enough for him to know that I wouldn't do anything like that to him. And now he's acting so jealous. For awhile I thought it was cute that he would act so defensive," She paused as we came upon the store. Blair was already inside talking to the shopkeeper and we paused outside the door before going in. "Now it's just annoying. Especially that he can have girls hanging all over him while I have to sit back and watch."

"He's a guy; of course they think it's alright. Sirius was going to take all of the Valentine's gifts he got from his freaking fan club while I didn't get anything because he forgot about me." We entered the shop, both of us in a bit of a bitter mood, and the bell tingled above us. "So who needs 'em?" I asked facetiously.

Turning our attention towards Madame M, I gave her a smile and went over to the salon portion of her shop. "How are you girls today? I see you've let your piercing grow back in Miss Parker." She mused and I reached up to touch my nose where it used to be pierced.

"Well, my parents were not as pleased with it as I was and they were very adamant about the fact that I take it out." I told her as we all sat down in the chairs as she surveyed us. She was talking to Blair about manicures when I spotted something above the mirrors and the sinks. "Madame M?" I questioned the much older woman as she instructed her assistants to gather supplies.

"Yes?" She said with a smile as she turned back to me. Running a hand through my elbow-length, chestnut brown hair, I looked over the ends and began to twist it.

"What about a haircut and a little bit of blonde hair dye?" I carefully avoided Lyla's gaze in the mirror and looked at everyone else in the store. Blair clapped happily while Lyla frowned. "I want something completely different. I want Sirius to be extremely surprised when he comes to beg for my forgiveness. And I've always heard that blondes have more fun."

Lyla launched up from her seat, almost toppling over when she realized that her feet were stuck in the chair massager. "If you thought it was bad that you got your nose pierced, what do you think is going to happen when they find out your hair is no longer its natural color but a bottled blonde?"

Wringing my hands, I finally met my sister's eyes. "Well, I guess they'll just have to deal with it because I'm definitely going to do this. How great is this going to be?" I asked no one in particular as Madame M led me away from the manicure counter and towards the sinks. I was actually getting excited about this and when she realized it was a lost cause, Lyla went back to just trying to enjoy herself.

"Well, Alexa, say goodbye to your hair." Blair said as Madame M gathered it into a low hanging ponytail at the ends of my shoulders. I closed my eyes and with two quick snips she was holding almost half of my hair in her hands.

Looking around, I almost fainted when I saw myself in the mirror. All of my hair, which had taken so freaking long to grow out, was gone in a matter of seconds. "Let's get this dyed before we begin to cut and style." Madame M said before she gave me a chance to change my mind. I was pushed back in my seat, my head was pushed into the sink, and suddenly the smell of shampoo and hair dye was filling my senses.

Twenty minutes later, thanks to magical scissors and fast acting dye I was looking into the mirror at my new hair color. Instead of being elbow length, it rested easily on my shoulder and was layered all over, my bangs resting in a side sweeping manner. And instead of the brunette I was used to looking at, I was now a blonde with honey colored highlights.

"You're like a brand new person." Lyla said with a smile as she looked at me in the mirror. She reached out and touched one of my natural curls.

"And it's a little freaky." Blair added while running her fingers through the back of my head and fluffing my hair up. Slapping their hands away, I stood up from my seat and spun around in a circle.

As we went to the counter to pay, I commented on their observations. "Well, not only is it a little weird, but my head feels a lot lighter and I love it!" We laughed and after paying and thanking Madame M, left the store. The wind had whipped up while we had been inside and a light snow had begun. While stepping out into the frigid air, I looked back across the street trying to see down the road to where the Three Broomsticks was.

"Are they going to even attempt to come after us?" Lyla asked no one in particular as she gazed in the direction I was looking in. I couldn't help but agree. Especially in Remus's case; when you accuse your girlfriend of cheating on you with someone who is not only older, but also a teacher, you definitely better get down on your knees and beg. For forgiveness, I mean.

Taking her hand in my own, I looked across the street before we made a dash for Honeydukes. Looking into the window, I noticed a new display of sugar quills. "Come on, I'll buy you some of the new quills you love so much." She looked up at me and gave me a slight smile while Blair held the door open for us to walk through. We fought our way through the crowded doorway and breathed deeply of the delicious smells.

"Let's go by the caramel section," Blair said, and we followed her while she parted the crowds of people. "You'd think that these kids had never been to Hogsmeade before." She mused. I couldn't help but agree with her. I was being accosted on all sides by munchkins who were vying for the best spots to look at the displays.

Not expecting Lyla who was in front of me to stop so suddenly, I ran straight into the back of her which almost caused her to go flying into a rather large display of Drooble's. "What's the hold up?" I asked, trying to keep the annoyed tone out of my voice. She and Blair both turned towards me and shushed me. Holding my hands up in front of me in surrender, I peered over to where they were looking. Rolling my eyes, I stood on my tiptoes and used Blair and Lyla as leverage to see and still be hidden.

Standing before us was James holding two different types of caramel in his hands while Remus and Sirius stood to the side with their hands in their pockets. James was muttering to himself about which kind was best while Sirius looked around with a bored expression, occasionally winking at the girls that were paying attention to him. The anger in my blood started to rear its head again as I watched him flaunt around.

Remus, however, was staring dejectedly at the floor. Sometimes he would glare angrily at the couples that were together in the store and then go back to staring at the floor. "Which one do you think she'd like the most? The caramel truffles are more romantic, but the chews are her favorite and I think they'd say 'I'm sorry' better than anything else." James held his hands up as visual aids, the boxes both about the same size.

Rolling his eyes, Sirius ran a hand through his hair and then raised an eyebrow. "I don't know what you're apologizing about, Prongs. We didn't do anything wrong. Besides, it's not like any sort of begging is going to make up for it. If I know Alexa, she'll just hold a grudge until she's decided that she's tired of being mad at me." Lyla and Blair turned around to look at me, and admittedly I was about to launch something at this thick-headed boy.

"You forgot Valentine's day, Pads. It's not just something that she's going to forget lightly even if she has said that she doesn't care." James said before putting the truffles back and picking up another box of caramel chews. I would admit it; Blair definitely had a boyfriend that knew how to beg for forgiveness. "Remus, what about you? Picking up anything for Lyla while we're in here?"

For the first time, Remus looked up and crossed his arms. "It doesn't seem right that I'm the one that has to buy gifts when she's the one that's been getting cozy with a teacher." Sirius smirked when he saw that Remus was taking sides with him and Lyla and I both tensed as the boys turned around.

James was muttering to himself again, about how his friends were going to get whipped if I'm correct, when they came around the corner we were hiding behind. They all stopped dead when they saw us. Blair, admittedly, basically launched herself into James smiling. "You're so forgiven, Potter!" She said when he had stopped sputtering about how much he was sorry and offering the candy as a peace offering.

Lyla's frustrated look turned even more downtrodden when Remus wouldn't look her in the eye. "You're really going to do this, Remus?" She asked her voice surprisingly steady and unwavering. He shrugged his shoulders as if he was unsure and she took a step closer to him. "I can't believe that you don't trust me enough to believe me."

"I don't appreciate being made into a fool." Remus said with his own arms crossed,

"And who made you look like a fool? Certainly not I," She looked really hurt as she looked at her feuding boyfriend. "If anyone has been made into a fool that's been me. After five months of being together you would think that you'd be able to trust me more."

"You would think that," Was Remus's quick remark and Lyla moved so fast that I thought I was just imagining it. The resounding crack was heard around the shop. Her eyes flashing, she backed up from Remus and clenched her open palm into a fist. He took it all in stride though as he just stared at my sister.

"You've accused me of having relations with a teacher. Do you know the trouble that we could both get into?"

"Well he deserves it. Obviously his head is warped if he thinks that his actions are okay around you. You're also just fueling his insecurities by letting him lean on you like a friend." Running a hand through his hair, Remus looked around him to the attention they were attracting. After all, they were standing in the middle of the crowded sweet shop raising their voices slightly after each comeback. And she had just popped him a good one.

Lyla let out a bitter laugh. "It seems that the only one around here that is insecure is you, Remus." She turned around, her hands going to her pockets while one swiped at her eyes as she ran out of Honeydukes. Remus watched her for a moment before shaking himself out of his stupor and running after her. Sirius and I looked at the door and then turned towards each other.

Seeing him staring at me, I gave him my best glare. "I haven't decided to just forgive you yet." I told him in a mocking voice before turning on my heel and leaving the shop. Once again, I wasn't ready for the whipping wind or the snow and I stopped suddenly when I got outside. I couldn't see where Remus or Lyla were so I just kept walking, my hands in my pocket and my head down.

"Alexa!" I heard from behind me, and I tried to speed up my walk so I wouldn't have to have this fight with him right now. It was cold, my head was still pounding from last night, and there was a fifty-fifty chance I was going to punch him if he got too close. He grabbed my wrist with his hand and I spun around to face him. The snow was making it hard to see, but I stared up at him anyways.

As the white flecks mixed with his ebony hair, we stood at a standstill, just watching each other without moving or looking away. Finally, I looked away and then physically turned my body away from him. The grip on my wrist tightened and I started walking again, leaving him no choice but to follow me. Once again, however, we got just outside the gates of Hogsmeade back on the road to Hogwarts when he stopped me.

"Listen, I'm sorry. And I understand that you want to hate me right now but I didn't mean to forget Valentine's Day." His eyes bore into my own and I had to look away before I lost all the anger and he got away with something again.

"An apology doesn't make this better, Sirius. I know you're sorry about forgetting, but what you don't understand no matter how many times I seem to tell you is that you can't just act like nothing bothers you and expect me to sit around and agree with you." Frustrated, I went to grab my hair then realized that it was all gone. And that I was a blonde now. Crap. Impulsive decisions: 1. Alexa: 0.

"It's my default setting, Alex." He attempted a smile, but I was too upset to return it. "How many times do I have to tell you that it's different this time for you to understand me? I can't keep proving myself to you if you're just going to throw it back in my face and criticize me."

Fiddling with my scarf, I looked around feeling helpless. "But you don't prove it, Sirius. You forget things that shouldn't be that hard to forget, and you use the fact that girls love you to your advantage and you just," I paused, frowned, and looked right at Sirius. "You can say all these great things and charm your way to my heart, but I eventually need to know that this is serious."

Gesturing between us, Sirius mimicked my pose. "What's it going to take for you to believe me then? What do I have to do to show you that I'm not going anywhere?" Turning away from him, I looked back up to the castle which was visible in the distance. Starting to walk again, I stopped once we got outside the doors to the castle. Sirius had followed me, saying nothing, and I had a feeling that we were both deep within our own thoughts.

"I don't know how to do it. Just show me that you love me instead of always saying it. Let your actions speak for your words." Whipping around, I shrugged as tears threatened my eyes. "I just don't know, Sirius. This shouldn't be that hard. It should just be I love you and you love me and that should be enough. For some reason, it's just not. I don't feel wanted.

"You have all these girls following you. You've told me that I'm different but it's my heart on the line, not just your playboy image." I swallowed back my tears and looked up at Sirius who was watching me with wide eyes.

"My image has nothing to do with this. I'll gladly get up in front of the whole Great Hall at dinner and proclaim the fact that I'm whipped if it will make you believe me." Gathering me in his arms, Sirius held onto me as I let my tears fall. "Just tell me what to do, because I'll do it, Alexa. I love you."

Taking a deep breath, I took his hand and without saying anything led him inside. It was silent as we made our way up to the Common Room. Then, once inside the mostly deserted room, he followed me up the stairs to the Boy's Dormitories. After I shut the door, I looked up at him and couldn't believe I was about to do what I was going to do.

"I want you, Sirius. That's what I want you to do." I said while fidgeting with my coat buttons. Sirius looked at me like I was crazy.

"But you already have me, Alexa." He said as if it was obvious.

Feeling my face heat up, but knowing deep n my heart that this was really what I wanted and that I was ready, I walked up to him. Reaching on my tiptoes, I kissed him dragging my hands through his perfectly tousled hair. He broke the kiss to look at me and I repeated myself. "I want this. With you."

His eyes widened and he looked down at our entwined hands. "Are you sure, Alexa? This is a pretty big step and I don't want you to feel pressured or obliged to," I silenced him by kissing him again with a smile on my lips. This time, I took some initiative by fingering the buttons on his coat and slipping some out.

Not wanting to rush anything, Sirius stopped my hands and then pulled my hat off my head. He smiled when he got a good look at my new hairstyle and color. I smiled back at him as he slowly unwound my scarf from my neck. My coat was next, the buttons slipping loose easily. I slipped out of my shoes and then helped him unbutton his own coat.

Our unhurried motions became a bit more desperate as we kissed again, deeper this time and more passionate and before I knew what was happening he was laying me down on what I assumed to be his bed. While he kissed his way down my throat, I sifted his ebony locks through my fingers enjoying the softness. His hands began to travel from my hips to my waist and then higher, the cotton t-shirt I had on under my coat going with it. I sat up slightly, helping Sirius take it off.

The cold air hit my exposed chest and stomach, and my arms came up involuntarily to cover myself. Sirius smirked before lowering me back to the bed again. Kissing his way up from my stomach back to my lips, he stopped and smiled at me from his position above me. "You're beautiful." He whispered and I felt my heart leap in my chest while the rest of my body felt like lava.

My jeans were off before I knew what had happened and I felt very exposed in just my bra and knickers. Sirius, noticing this, sat up and pulled his already raised t-shirt up over his head. Tracing a hand over his chest, I let my eyes flutter shut as we kissed again.

The rest of our clothes come off and before I knew it I was staring into his grey orbs while he paused. "Are you sure?" He asked again, and I nodded my head before we kissed again.

"I love you," I told him and it was as if after that, everything else passed in a blur.

* * *

_Sirius's Point Of View_

"Padfoot! Are you out of your damn mind?" Now, don't get me wrong, this situation probably seems like a predicament that I've gotten myself into numerous times before. Having one girlfriend and waking up in bed with another person completely. But I definitely know that this time that is not the situation. I opened my eyes to see blonde hair scattered across my bare chest and then looked to where my best mate was standing between the parted curtains of my four-poster bed.

Looking down to make sure Alexa was still asleep, I adverted my attention towards Prongs. His eyes were wide behind the perpetually falling glasses that he insisted on not getting fixed because he said Blair liked the smart-but-scruffy-look and he was gesturing between me and the other occupant of my bed. My eyebrows furrowed as I watched him. He started to freak out, muttering things to himself, and Alex stirred slightly. Which I felt acutely seeing as her naked figure was sprawled across me.

Damn.

Making sure she remained some of her dignity, I slipped out of the bed while keeping the sheets up above her chest. Grabbing my jeans and sliding them on commando so I could get Prongs out of here before she woke up and saw him leering at her, I pulled James into the bathroom while he continued to splutter. Trying to flatten my mussed hair, my eyes found my mate's through the reflection in the mirror.

The look on his face promised murder so I turned around. "What the hell, Prongs? I really have no idea what's wrong with you." Crossing his arms, he once again pointed towards the door to where our dorm was located. "Say something or I'm not going to be able to explain to you what you want to hear."

"Why would you cheat on her; after all you went through and put up with to get her? I will never understand you, Pads. And with some blonde too." Messing his hair up even more than usual, Prongs ran his hands through his mop and pulled on the ends. I put a hand up to my own head, taking care not to mess it up anymore than it already was. Some people just have no sense of dignity when it comes to beautiful locks.

"James, let me tell you one time; I didn't cheat on Alex. The girl that you were so keen on ogling out there _was_ Alex." I rolled my eyes at my best mate as he uncrossed his arms and sat on one of the sinks adorning the room.

"But that girl had blonde hair and unless I'm color blind for some reason, the last time I saw Alex her hair was brown." James said as if he were figuring out an extremely hard problem in Arithmancy. And I had seen the homework that he and Alex had so I knew for a fact that it was challenging. Not like I had any trouble though; I'm basically the shit at stuff like that but school was a waste of time. "Pads leave your hair alone for a minute and explain to me! You can't be telling me that you care more about your hair than this situation."

I raised an eyebrow while running a hand through my beautiful hair and then crossed my arms in front of my chest. "Split-ends are no laughing matter, Prongs. I am a stud and therefore being in prime condition is key to getting women to love me. This means that my hair must be always beautiful along with everything else or I'm finished. Without my hair, I am nothing." I spouted off in what I liked to call my 'arrogant' voice and James frowned at me.

"Fine; I'll stop joking around. That is Alexa out there no matter what color hair she has. Apparently, the girls went to some shop after ditching us and in the process, Alex dyed her hair from brown to blonde and cut it all off. Personally, I like it either way, but if you need to know for yourself you can go out there and wake her up." I slid down the wall to take a seat on the floor next to the heater because I was starting to freeze my nipples off and that would probably turn a few people off of me.

This could be a good thing if you think about all the fan members in my club. I was starting to think about having exclusive membership with a test of loyalty and such when James cleared his throat. Whipping my head back up, I focused my attention back on the situation. He crossed his legs while the sink groaned under his weight and then sized me up like he was actually thinking if I was lying to him. Please, even I knew better than to lie to my best mate. Not only did he know when I was lying, but he also knew where I lived which meant he could inadvertently murder me in my sleep and probably get away with it.

"I'm actually not too keen on going out there and waking up your naked girlfriend, but I'll take your word for it seeing as you know that she'll kick your ass if you did cheat on her." I gave him a triumphant look while he pushed his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose. "Though it's still very curious how you went from her being ready to throw you off the Astronomy tower to her wanting to jump your bones. Unless of course, you were the one that jumped her."

The raised eyebrow and smirk made me roll my eyes. "I can assure you that she was the one that jumped me. While I have been known to take the situations presented to me in stride, I love her enough not to seduce her into just throwing away her virtue because I wanted some play."

"Wow, that's actually pretty mature of you," James cut in with a contemplative look on his face. "But did you? Corrupt her, I mean. How long has it been since you've taken a girl to the dark side, anyways? I don't think I can recall the last time Moony said that someone had deducted house points because of your extracurricular activities."

"Yes, well, as of about two hours ago I am officially back in the game." I smiled when I thought about this and then sent James a smirk. "I can't believe that I waited for seven months before having sex. It's like some kind of miracle for me." He nodded and then looked at me quizzically.

"So you really didn't do the nasty with Bree?" I raised another eyebrow, and then threw an old towel at my mate. He caught it before it made its mark, but it was really the thought that mattered. "Don't get upset with me. How was I supposed to know that you had actually taken the potion and not just cheated like you usually do, eh? Is it so uncommon that I would have to be on guard around you, you devious dog?"

"Must you always speak in questions?" I asked him in return. Pausing for a minute to fake ponder, James put his hand on his chin and looked towards the window where the snow was falling pretty heavily. "There's also a strange pang in my chest, Prongsie. I believe that it's coming from the fact that even my best mates don't trust me."

He threw the towel back at me and I dodged it like a pro, then flexed my arm muscles, and posed. With a roll of his eyes, James leaned back against the mirror and leaned his head back. "Speaking of trust, did you happen to see what happened to Remus and Lyla? Blair and I heard about the fight in Honeydukes but we didn't see where they went after that."

Shrugging, I leaned up against the wall behind me. "Nah, I went after Alex and didn't really pay much attention to it." Another thought struck me as we sat in a contemplative silence. "So I'm assuming they didn't come back to the castle yet." It was more a statement than a question and Prongs let me finish my musings before talking again. "It's probably not good for Moony to get so worked up about these things right before the full moon."

"Which is probably going to be hellacious seeing as his wolf side will take over and he won't have any control," He finished for me and I nodded while examining my fingernails. My ass was starting to hurt as I sat on the floor, but since I couldn't be bothered to move I dealt with it. "So what I really came up here to get you for was dinner. And since it's going to be starting in about ten minutes, I'm going to get out of here and let you," He smirked and then rolled his eyes. "Do whatever you need to do."

I rolled off the floor and opened the door for Prongs, who bowed regally and made his way out of the bathroom. It may sound a little strange, but we did most of our manly talks about girls in the bathroom. It was just how it had to be. When we walked out of the room, however, James and I both stood still.

"Hey, guys," I immediately snapped a hand over James's eyes as Alexa stood in front of us with her jeans half on and a pillow, _my _pillow, covering her chest. She smiled awkwardly as I pushed James out of the room, fighting the urge to use the _confundus _charm on him so he would forget all he saw before she'd gotten the pillow up.

"See you at dinner, Alexa!" James shouted as I shut the door behind him. Taking a deep breath, I turned back around to look at Alexa, who had pulled her shirt back over her head and was standing next to my bed with a blank face. I couldn't move, no matter how much I wanted to gather her up and talk to her. Man, Prongs and Moony were right in saying she had turned me into a pussy.

"So," I started and this seemed to snap her out of her stupor. Moving quickly, she located her trainers and shoved her socked feet inside with them still laced up. She began to look around the room, and spotting her coat on the floor near where I was standing, I picked it up and reached it out to her. "Looking for this?" I tried but my voice caught in my throat as she looked up at me and I saw the shininess of her eyes.

Shit. She was going to cry and I didn't know what I had done this time. Wracking my mind, my hands went out automatically, gathering her in my arms and holding onto her as she cried. "What's wrong, Alex? Come on, babe, talk to me." I soothed and she looked up at me for a minute before wiping her eyes and then putting her head back down on my chest. Her tears were damp against my bare chest and I ran my hand over her hair in the way I knew would calm her down.

"I'm sorry, Sirius, I don't know what's going on with me." She said wiping her eyes off and looking up at me. Her hands were splayed across my chest and I looked down into her watery eyes. Then without warning she grabbed the coat from my hand and took out the door like some kind of bat out of hell.

Spinning around, I watched her run down the stairs to the Common Room. Running a hand through my hair, I sighed, pulled on the closest shirt, which was luckily my own, and then took off after her. Because there was no way in hell that after four months I wasn't just as good in the sack as I was before I became celibate. At least not enough to make a girl cry in a bad way.

After skipping a few stairs, I had almost caught up with her when she took off up the girl's stairs. "Alexa, really? Come back down here," She disappeared around a corner and I rolled my eyes before going up the stairs myself. However, I had forgotten about skipping the first stair and saying the incantation and therefore ended up on my ass at the bottom of the staircase-turned-slide. "Fuck!" I shouted while grabbing my elbow and looking around the Common Room to see who had just witnessed my fail of epic proportions.

Luckily the only ones around were a couple of second year girls that giggled behind their hands once they saw me looking at them. When the virtual light bulb went off inside my head, I strode over to their table and knelt down between them. "Hello, ladies," I said with a charming smile.

Once again the giggling began and I couldn't help but smirk a little. Even twelve year old girls knew I was the shit. "Hiya, Sirius." They both chimed and from the standard greeting I knew that they were either already in the fan club or they were on their way to becoming members. And yes, I really do have a fan club. Not to be narcissistic, but where else would all the girls that I had met over my years go to talk about me? Or where would the girl that watched me from afar go to fantasize about me? I had the classic, aristocratic features of all the Blacks. It really couldn't be helped.

Anyways, back to the plan. "Would you stunning women be able to run up to the sixth year dorms and grab Alexa for me? It would be much appreciated seeing as how she's run away from me and the stairs are such a challenge." Smiling again, I put an arm around each girl who basically swooned. "I would do it myself but once you forget the rules then the stairs lock up and the charm no longer works."

"Sure thing," They replied together again and then they stood up and were up the stairs. Sitting myself down in an armchair next to the fire, I decided to stick out and wait until she came down the stairs. Hopefully, she wouldn't be too long. I wonder if Prongs will notice my absence at dinner and save me something nice.

* * *

_Alexa's Point of View_

When I opened my eyes after the sound of a slamming door, I cursed myself for sleeping through the rest of the day. Then I rolled over and realized that it was dark outside. And that the window was on the wrong side of the room. That was a little odd. Plus, I couldn't forget about the small fact that I was naked and lying in a bed that wasn't mine.

Well, then. Wide awake now, I held the covers up to my chest in case anyone was to walk in and see me through the parted curtains whilst I looked around the area that Sirius's bed encased. On his nightstand were his wand and an embellished silver crusted hand mirror. Grabbing it, I checked my reflection in its reflective surface. I grimaced a bit before trying to flatten out the side of my hair that was sticking straight up. Pulling the now blonde locks into a ponytail, I used the elastic on the bedside table to secure it.

Luckily for Sirius, the elastic was my own that I had left here this morning. I was searching the ground for my knickers when I heard voices from the bathroom. Great. Someone was up and they would most likely not be staying in there forever. Hurriedly throwing on my underwear, I grabbed what looked to be my jeans and had them up to my hips when the door to the bathroom was flung open.

And being the genius that I was, I had opened the curtains to look for my clothes so I was perfectly visible. Forgetting completely about the buttons to my jeans, and grabbing the first thing I touched upon, I looked at James and Sirius standing in the bathroom doorway. So, add flashing my best friend my breasts to the list of most embarrassing things I had done in my Hogwarts days.

"Hey, guys," I tried while I held what I now realized to be Sirius's pillow up to cover my nakedness. I locked eyes with Sirius as he covered James's eyes with his hand. Watching as Sirius pushed James out of the room; I grabbed my bra and turned my back while James yelled something about dinner towards my general direction. By the time the door was shut again, I had my shirt back on and had buttoned my jeans.

When I looked up, Sirius and I were both staring at each other and I felt my face go blank. This was so awkward. While I wanted to run into his arms, I couldn't get the image of him out of my mind. Especially with him standing there all bare-chested and confident. "So," He muttered and it was almost as if he had snapped a rubber band onto my arm.

Looking around frantically, I pushed my feet into my green tennis shoes and then tried to locate my shirt. Catching sight of Sirius bending down to the floor caught my attention from the corner of my eye and I faced him. In his hands was my gray pea coat. "Looking for this?" He questioned, his voice sounding tired and a little unsure.

I felt tears sting the back of my eyes and then I was suddenly in his arms and crying. The funny thing was I didn't even know why I was crying so it didn't make sense. Sirius started to run his hands through my hair which calmed me down slightly enough to stop my blubbering and I melted into his arms, enjoying the feeling of safeness, before I wiped my eyes and looked up into his grey orbs.

"I'm sorry, Sirius," I said while placing my hands back on his chest because he was still holding onto me. "I don't know what's going on with me." The look on his face was so eager to help me and to take all of my troubles away that something inside of me just snapped and the next thing I knew I was pushing out of his hold, grabbing my coat, and bolting out the door.

I had reached the girl's staircases, ignoring the way the two second year girls in the common room were looking at me, and was sprinting up the stairs taking caution not to trip when Sirius yelled at me from the bottom of the stairs. It appeared that luck was on my side as well because just as I reached the landing and turned the corner, he stepped on the stairs and went flying back on his ass to the bottom.

I let out a small laugh as I opened the door to the sixth year dorms and closed it. Then I slid down the wall and brought my knees to my chest while resting my head in my hands. "Looks like you could use some advice." I jumped about a mile in the air when I looked over to the next bed and saw Lily sitting there with a chocolate frog half-way to her mouth.

"Holy shit, Evans. You about gave me a heart attack." I said from my place on the floor. She gave me an apologetic look and then motioned for me to join her. Wiping my eyes once again, I got myself up from the floor and walked over to sit at the end of her bed. She threw me an ice mice, which I caught thanks to my new Quidditch reflexes, and then raised an eyebrow.

"Spill." I waited a moment and opened the crystallized candy before I thought about what I was going to say. Biting a piece of the candy off, I sucked on the sugar before looking back up at Lily. She was waiting patiently for me to go on and after a few more seconds of debating I decided to tell her the truth. The worst she could do was judge me, right?

"Well, uhm, Sirius and I had a fight?" I meant for the words to be a question but they came out as more of a question. She nodded for me to go on, so I did. "And then we were making up and I implied that I wanted to, well, have sex." Talking very quickly, I swallowed after a pause and looked at Lily's face. She was calmly impassive and looked to be thinking it over in her head. When she didn't say anything, I panicked and continued on in a hurried way. "Well, I more than just implied it. Really it was my idea in the first place and he said he was fine to just wait but I wanted to do it.

"I'm just not sure anymore if now it was a good idea. I mean, I was running on high emotion and kind of just rushed into it. We've only been dating for about three months though, and it just all seems really early. But I'm not a whore, right? We are still dating and everything and he's the first boy I've been with. And for all I know he hasn't been with anyone this year." Sucking in a much needed breath, my eyes searched Lily's face for some inkling of help.

Rubbing a hand over her face, Lily looked at me for a second before folding her hands in her lap. Then she smiled. "So let me get this straight, you had sex with Sirius Black? The notorious ladies man got you into bed with him, and it wasn't even his idea?" Feeling defensive, I folded my arms across my chest and then stood from the bed.

"When you put it like that it sounds like some quickie in a broom cupboard. This is my virginity we're talking about Lily. And he loves me." I sounded like some wimpy little girl, but I couldn't help it. I had to justify this within myself. He loved me. I loved him. I was the one who wanted to have sex. I don't regret that decision. Continuing to say this mantra in my head while I took my hair down and pulled a brush through it, my eyes were diverted to where my red-headed roommate sat upon her bed.

She swung her feet over the side of the bed and then lay down across her bedspread. "It's not like that, I know, Alexa. I was just trying to get the facts straight in my mind. Okay, well, so you had sex. If you say it's with someone you love then what could you be so worried about?" She caught my eye in the mirror and I shrugged before turning around.

"I don't know. I just feel so weird now. Like," I felt my face heat up and I couldn't stop myself from looking around the room just in case someone jumped out and said boo. "Well, it's like I can't stop picturing us doing it, again." Putting my face in my hands quickly, I heard Lily's slight laugh as she sat back up.

"Well, I suppose that that's slightly normal considering it is Sirius." I looked at her with a raised eyebrow and then she smiled. "So you had sex with Sirius Black. So, was he as well equipped as the rumors have it?" Without warning, she burst into raucous laughter and I once again felt myself blushing quite intensely. "Oh, come on, this isn't something you can just keep to yourself."

"Lily! That's a highly personal question. And I'm not sure," She raised an eyebrow and I stopped mid-sentence. Then, thinking about it, I shrugged my shoulders. "Yeah, well, I guess he was."

Pretty sure that my face was now permanently stained red, I joined Lily in her laughter. I had sat back down on her bed just as there was a knock at the door. We paused and looked at each other before she opened the door. Knowing it couldn't be Sirius because the stairs would have locked up for the next few hours, my curiosity was piqued. When the door swung open, two small girls were standing in front of us.

"It's for you," Lily said with a smile as she stepped away from the door and back to her bed. Getting up from my spot, I left the room with the two girls while waving goodbye to Lily. She waved back and then went back to reading her magazine and writing a letter that she had been doing when I walked it. "Sirius Black is waiting for you in the Common Room." The girl with brown hair and doe eyes said and I thanked them before taking a breath and walking downstairs.

Sirius had his back turned to me when I made it down the stairs and I snuck up to him on my tiptoes. Putting my hands around his eyes, I leaned down and whispered in his ear, "Guess who?" He laughed slightly and turned around towards me while I sat on the armrest of his chair. "I'm sorry," I started with and the smile he gave me told me that I was forgiven.

"You don't have to say anything, Alexa. I just want you to tell me if it was something that I did to upset you." He told me while pulling me down onto his lap. I snuggled into his arms and nodded my head.

"Well, I want to explain, for once. I was feeling weird about everything and just doubting everything that had just happened and it freaked me out." He made an 'hmm' noise and I looked up at him. "We can always try again though."

His eyes lit up and I hopped up from his lap before he could seduce me. "You'd really do that for me?" He said and I rolled my eyes before holding my hand out for him to take. Leading him from the Common Room and down to the Great Hall for dinner, or what was left of it anyways, I let myself grin and then found myself laughing. "What's so funny?"

"Lily Evans wanted to know if you were hung." My laughter grew louder as Sirius looked down at me and then nodded.

"A very interesting development." He mused and I hit him in the chest with the back of my hand before he could think too deeply on the subject.

"Sirius, could you please think about something unrelated to such disturbing things for like, five minutes?" I questioned and he made a face but then shrugged his shoulders.

"I guess if it makes you happy, I could think about refraining from making innuendos about myself inside my head and outside of it." He put his arm around my shoulder.

"That would be very helpful indeed." I put my arm around his waist.

We were just getting ready to stop and most likely be a little later for dinner, when Blair and James came around the corner. Their arms were laden with different eateries and they stopped when they saw us. "Oh, good, turn back around and get your asses to the Common Room if you value your lives." Blair spoke quickly as she ushered us along, using her head as a guide as her hands were full.

"I hope that some of that is for us?" Sirius asked hopefully and James rolled his eyes.

"Of course, it's for you. You think we could eat all of this? Or that Alexa would be able to funnel this much food into her stomach?" The boys stuck their tongues out at each other before we picked up the pace as Blair started to babble.

"So Lyla and Remus are back. And let me tell you that this row they had must have just escalated into an even bigger fight because neither are exactly speaking to each other. They just kept glaring at each other. Then, in the middle of dinner, Remus did something to set Lyla off and Professor McGonagall had to separate them. She brought up something about couples counseling, which set Remus off, and they left the Great Hall with Lyla in tears and Remus a lovely shade of red." She paused for a minute and then picked up her pace once again. Right about now, I was jogging to keep up with the two long-legged boys and my speedy Gonzales friend.

Huffing around, I hurried to catch up with them. "What does this have to do with the fact that we're basically running around the castle like chickens with our heads cut off?" The question was met by an eerily similar look from both James and Blair.

"Do you want to be the ones that have to choose a side? Dinner was an affair to remember with 'Well, James will obviously agree with,' and 'Blair will back me up,' so we had to get out of there as soon as we could gather up some food for you two." James sent Sirius a conspiratorial smirk and then turned to me. "We risked our lives for you, Alexa. A little sympathy would be appreciated."

I opened my mouth to apologize when Blair whipped around a corner. "In here," She said in a whisper dragging me along with her.

"But Blair that's a," I started but was cut off when James and Sirius crashed into us and the door shut. "Broom cupboard."

Sighing, I turned behind me to look up at James and Sirius. What I got was essentially a dinner roll to the face. "Sorry, Alex." James said in a mutter. Giving me a slight smile, he moved his arms as much as he could in the cramped space. "Damn, Bear, you think you could have left some of us out of here? What are we doing in here in the first place?"

"I mean, I'm all for whatever I think is going on here, but we're going to need more than just this food if you want to get kinky. And I see no whipped cream." Sirius smirked as my face flamed.

"Sirius! Just shut your mouth. Please Merlin, I'm begging you." I said with a groan.

"Both of you shut up! This is of the utmost importance right now," Blair whispered in a harsh tone and offended, Sirius and I stopped our babbling.

Not a second later, two voices drifted towards where we were hiding. "I swear that they went this way. I want a witness when I stab you with a wooden stake." Lyla's voice was saying as she huffed about the corridor. We all got closer to the door to hear Remus's scathing reply.

"That's a vampire, Lyla. And I doubt seriously if even silver would affect me right now as I'm not having my monthly visitor." Remus said in a cold tone and James fake shivered when he heard it.

"So that's why you're pms-ing all over the castle. You should probably get that fixed before someone drags you to the infirmary." I could hear Lyla's light footsteps stop and I could only imagine her spinning around to poke Remus in the chest. "This menial fascination you are possessing about some tryst that you know is unfathomable is getting a little time-worn."

Blair and I shared a look after this statement. She was speaking in large words and at a fast pace. If Remus valued his life, he would back off before she hit him again. "Don't go all dictionaries on me, Lyla Parker. I know what those words mean too. If you didn't remember, I'm the fourth in our class." Oh, Remus, you're done for. It was nice knowing you.

"Bring that up again why don't you! You beat me by a fourth of a point, hardly something to write home about. And if Professor Cleary knew what she was talking about then I'd be miles ahead of you in ranking." The one thing that pissed Lyla off the most and it was her Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Professor Cleary. Everyone knew it was a sore subject and you didn't bring it up. Apparently, Remus felt the need to break this unspoken rule and rub it in poor Lyla's face. This fight really was as bad as Blair described it.

Remus let out a bitter laugh and our group inside the broom closet sucked in a collective breath. It was about to get nasty. "You left one of the main qualities off the exam, Lyla. So clearly I earned that ranking. I beat you, so deal with it." Remus had always acknowledged the fact that Professor Cleary didn't know what she was talking about, but obviously these feelings had been coming right out of his ass because he wasn't sticking to his original statements now.

"You are such a bastard. Go rot in hell with your lovely little girlfriend, the devil!" Lyla said and her angry footsteps resounded down the hallway.

"Don't you walk away from me. We're not finished yet!"

As soon as the sound of footsteps had receded, we turned towards each other. "Damn. Thanks for saving us, Blair." Sirius said while taking a sandwich from the platter of food James was holding. I rolled my eyes, while Sirius diverted his attention to opening the door.

Blair, who was standing close to a rather friendly broom, started to get annoyed. "Sirius, could you please get the door open. This isn't exactly the most comfortable position to be in." Still struggling with the door, Sirius looked over his shoulder and sent her a silencing look.

"It doesn't seem like it wants to budge," He grunted while pulling with both hands and leaving the sandwich on a shelf. "James, open the door."

"Stand aside and let a real man show you how it's done. Amateur," James muttered while handing over the tray of food to Sirius who watched with an unamused look. After warming up with some fake stretches that almost sent me reeling into a mop and bucket because I was dodging an elbow to the face, he grabbed onto the handle of the door and twisted. It didn't budge. He tried again with more force, turning it in both directions. Once again, no ace.

He looked at us sheepishly, before frowning at his grinning best friend. "Alright, enough of this baby back. Who has their wand?" Blair asked in a snappish tone. I went to reach behind my ear, which is where I usually kept my wand on weekends and then remembered before I grasped air that it was sitting on Sirius's bed side table with his own.

"Please tell me you got your wand off the table?" I asked him and he sent me an innocent look. Slapping a hand to my head, I let out a groan as James feverishly searched his pocket.

"I thought it was yours!" Sirius defended as James pulled his pockets inside out to reveal a whole lot of nothing. I looked at Blair pleadingly and she just ran a hand through her hair to tuck it behind her ears.

"Don't look at me; I'm the one who posed the question." She said by way of explanation. There was a moment of silence before I sank to the floor and let out a dramatic wail.

"We'll die in here! I know we will. And then Filch will find our rotting bodies and hang us by our toes from the statues in the courtyard because we shouldn't have been in here in the first place. He'll make a model out of us and then we'll be screwed. Even though we're dead and can't defend ourselves, I'm sure he'll find a way to get around it." Hysterically, I grabbed onto Blair's ankles. "What are we going to do!?"

"You are completely ridiculous," Blair rolled her eyes. Then she sat on a bucket she upturned. "We'll just wait until we hear some people walk by again."

"Unless, of course, it's Lyla and Remus. I won't be caught in the argument again." James said while he took up the rest of the floor space. We all looked up at Sirius who was the only one left standing.

"Sure, sure. Leave the person with the longest legs standing." He muttered while rolling his eyes. "Hop up, Alexa." Sighing, I did what he said and he took my spot while leaving me to sit in his lap. Not that I really minded or anything.

"What were they even arguing about? I know it has something to do with Professor Wolfe, but really, why does Remus have his knickers in a twist. He's a _teacher_," I stressed while we sat in a contemplative silence.

After awhile, James spoke up. "I think it's just the fact that someone older and probably just as smart has taken an interest in Lyla. Even if the interest is only academic, Remus see's this person as a threat on an unequal playing field." Sirius nodded and I thought about it for a moment.

"Why an unequal playing field?" Blair asked while putting her head in her hand. "Remus should be the one with an advantage because he can be Lyla's intellectual equal and her equal in age and experience."

"That's what you'd think. But Remus sees this differently." Sirius spoke. "Because Professor Wolfe is only a 'wolf' in name." The play on words was not missed and revelation struck.

"So because Professor Wolfe is what regular people like to call normal, and Remus is a werewolf, he thinks that Lyla will go for the normal version of himself." It was sad if you thought about it. Remus and Lyla were the ones that were perfect together. They could go forever without talking because they were that secure in their relationship. They didn't have to make conversation just for the sake of conversation.

If anyone could make it, I would have thought it would have been them.

"They're not breaking up, though, are they?" Blair asked the question that was on my mind as well. We looked to James and Sirius, who for all their denying, liked to have sit down heart-to-hearts when no one was watching. "There have been more trying things than this for them and they've made it through." She reasoned. I wanted to say something, but I was waiting to hear what the boys thought and didn't want to interrupt in case we didn't have the chance to hear about this and help until it was too late.

Taking his glasses off and rubbing his eyes, James put his hands on top of one another over his fly-away ebony locks. "I honestly can't tell at this point. At times, I wonder why if they're just going to fight, then why are they still together. But then, I also remember that they really have one of the strongest bonds in the group. They were best friends before they dated, so I truly think this is just a speed bump."

We mused about that statement for a bit, and then when the silence started to creep in deeper, the conversation drifted to nothing important. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. "If you four are done hiding, then you can come out now." It was Remus's voice, and since there was no accompanying voice, we had to assume he was alone.

"Let us out, Reems! We've been stuck in here for ages. The walls are closing in." I yelled through the wooden enclosure. I could practically hear the four sets of rolling eyes as the door was opened. Rushing out, I breathed in the fresh, must-free air. "Freedom!" I yelled. Giving Remus a hug, I spun around in a circle.

"Hot damn!" Sirius yelled as he escaped the broom closet last. Spotting the map of the school the boys kept, he hit Remus in the chest. It basically sent him flying backwards and as Sirius danced his way up the corridor, Remus yelled out. "That was too hard!"

* * *

"Alexa," I looked out of the corner of my eye as we stood outside the doors to Transfiguration on Tuesday morning. I was standing next to a stoic Lyla and a fidgety Blair, both of whom were looking straight forward. I caught Sirius's eye, widened my own to send a silent message, and then turned back to Lyla.

"So, I know we were supposed to pick sides and all and I do think that Remus is in the wrong, but I need to talk to Sirius." The glare that I received from my sister had me shrinking back a little. "It's just that he's supposed to be my tutor for class and if we don't get this worked out before McGonagall gets here she's probably going to flip her lid. Know that I'll definitely not be speaking to Remus and no lovey-dovey things will happen when we speak."

Lyla looked across the short corridor to where James and Remus were standing while Sirius braved the terrain between the two walls. After glaring successfully at Remus, she turned back to me. "If you must. But know that if you so much as utter a syllable that sounds like it's going to be about something other than Transfiguration that I will know. And then I will kill you." She gave me a sweet smile that had an underlying satanic feel and pushed me towards Sirius.

"Hello, Sirius. Shall we talk only about Transfiguration and not about anything that has to do with anything else?" I asked in a loud voice as I neared my boyfriend, and looking over my shoulder I caught Lyla's eye. She gave me a little nod and I pushed Sirius towards the other end of the hallway. "You've got to talk to Remus about this! She's going completely insane." I whispered.

"Don't think that you've got the hard life. Remus caught James and Blair together last night and basically called a Marauders meeting. It got ugly." He said as we snuck glances back towards where the majority of the class was congregated. James and Blair were basically making out with their eyes while Remus and Lyla were probably fighting the urge to say mean things to each other again.

"We have to do something about it. I haven't talked to you since Saturday night," I said stepping closer to him. He looked back quickly before giving me a chaste kiss. "This is stupid. Why can't we talk to each other when they're the ones that are fighting? We said our words and now we're over it."

Sirius laughed at my pouting, and then sighed. "Probably because I haven't accused you of sleeping with a teacher and then told you I didn't trust you." He said then quickly changed the subject as Lyla began to walk towards us. "So, we'll just start where you and Caradoc left off. That way we won't be too far behind and you'll be caught up before March."

"Sounds good, Sirius." I told him while Lyla grabbed my arm and started to drag me back down the halls. I fake cried while Sirius rolled his eyes and walked back to where James was now leaning back against the wall with his eyes raised towards the heavens. Remus paced back in forth in front of him, his mouthing moving a mile a minute. "Looks like James is being told," I mused in the general direction of Blair who had the grace to look sheepish.

"Of no fault but his own," She said while standing taller. Then she looked over to where James was shaking his head wildly and explaining whatever he did wrong this time.

"We're supposed to go inside," Lyla instructed with a raised eyebrow and we quickly averted our eyes from the boys. Leading the way, the rest of the class trailed behind Lyla. We had Transfiguration with the Ravenclaw house and to most likely piss Remus off, Lyla waved to the keeper of the team. Not that he was playing much Quidditch lately with his team being suspended but still.

Leaving Blair and Lyla to their table in the middle of the room, I waved goodbye as I went to join Sirius at one of the back corner tables. "You would pick the farthest table from McGonagall. How do you suppose I'm to take notes from back here?" I asked and he lowered his eyelashes to look at me.

"Who said anything about taking notes?" He asked while squeezing my knee under the table. Involuntarily, my knee jerked up and his knuckles hit the bottom of the table. He yelped and I tried desperately to stifle my giggles.

"Ac-" I had to stop to laugh while he winced and cradled his arm. "Accidental. Accidental knee," I paused and thought for a minute. "Leverage. Accidental knee leverage. But, hey, you can still you use it!" I said in an exuberant voice while smiling.

"You hate me." He said with a glare and I put my head on his shoulder while taking his hand in my own. Bringing his knuckles up to my lips, I gave them a quick kiss and a pat.

"All better now, Pookie?" I asked in a sugar-laced voice. Smiling at me in an equally fake way, he nodded.

"Of course, pudding."

"I am not a dessert. And if I was it would be something way better than pudding. Like a chocolate cake. Or a double-fudge Sunday with extra banana." I put my hand on my chin in mock-thought while I thought about dessert.

"Actually, you're more of a sucker. Because I can get you to believe anything," He said with a laugh. Well, two could play at that game.

"And you're more of a," I paused in thought, not really sure where I was going. Sirius looked at me expectantly and I took a moment while holding up my hand. "A popsicle. Because you think you're so cool."

He looked at me confused while I smiled in triumph. "What's a popsicle?" He asked with a 'you're crazy' look on his face. I frowned. Duh, he wouldn't know what that was.

"It's like juice that's frozen and on a stick. They eat them in America." I told him. He nodded and then crossed his arms.

"That wasn't very funny."

"You're just jealous," I told him while hitting his arm. Suddenly, the door burst open and the class immediately quieted as someone came sweeping into the room. It was our immediate reaction for whenever McGonagall barreled in because she didn't take peoples crap. However, we got a surprise as the teacher in the class room turned around.

"Professor McGonagall is away on business with the headmaster so I will be her substitute for today. What are we learning?" Sirius and I looked from the smiling teacher to each other and my eyes widened.

Uh-oh.

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Amulet Girl's AN: Well, could things get any tenser? I hope you enjoyed the lovely chapter my coauthor put together for you lovely people. I will diligently work on the next chapter and get it to you as promptly as possible. Now, REVIEW. Please and thank you.


	28. Now Help Me Up

AmuletGirl's AN: Hello there everyone! Well, I will keep this short and simple. I hope you enjoy the chapter that I have put together for you lovely people. It's a bit different and we discover a few interesting things. So, read on, enjoy, and as always, review! I hope you all are well, and please keep the people of Haiti in your prayers, I have several friends down there, so keep them in your thoughts. Farewell!

Disclaimer: We own nothing of this story, except for our ideas and the character's that aren't in the actual Harry Potter books.

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_"Turn me around, throw me down; Now help me up."_

_Lyla's Point of View_

Why was the world against me? And the cosmic universe strikes again. As if my day and life in general wasn't complicated enough, now Luke is filling in for McGonagall. Thanks a freaking lot universe. As Luke stood before the class and I sat at my desk with Blair, I almost couldn't find the will to care anymore. I was so emotionally drained from this whole ordeal with Remus and I was just physically tired. I hadn't been sleeping well, I was constantly upset about something, and I was just sick of it all. Blair looked to me, very concerned, and patted my hand. Alexa also sent me a look from the back of the class.

"Professor McGonagall is away on business with the headmaster so I will be her substitute for today. What are we learning?" Luke asked, looking to the class to give him some feedback. After no one answered, those lazy sods, I looked down at my notes and subconsciously answered.

"We were learning about the _Duro_ spell," I said listlessly, still eyeing my notes. I sat back in my chair and folded my arms across my chest.

"Thank you, Miss Parker," Luke said. I could detect a hesitant undertone in his voice. When I looked up at him, he looked uncomfortable and a little saddened. Although, I can't really blame the guy for feeling uncomfortable. The whole school basically knew that Remus and I were fighting and a good hunk of them knew why.

"Well, there's a surprise," I heard Remus say from behind me. I turned around and narrowed my eyes at him. Remus was sitting very defensively in his chair, a scowl on his face. I shook my head at the highly immature boy behind me. Remus returned my gesture with a scowl.

As I turned back to face the front of the classroom, I said, "When will you stop acting like such a baby?"

"When you stop acting like a bitch," Remus said, his tone dripping with disgust and anger. My jaw dropped at the fact that he would even say that to me. But, then again, the way things were going lately, this wasn't too out of character for Remus. I looked to Blair, whose eyes were open wide from shock while she was eyeing me carefully. I closed my mouth and clenched my jaw so hard that I thought that my teeth were going to crumble. I looked to Blair again who shook her head warningly, probably knowing what I was going to do.

Completely ignoring my dear friend, I shifted in my seat once again. "First off," I said, seething with vexation, "Don't you ever speak to me that way again. Second," I added holding up a second finger, "Just drop all of this." This last statement sounded almost like a desperate plea when it came out of my mouth. "This has been going on way too long and you just need to let it go. I have told you on countless occasions how I feel, so just move on. You are overreacting way too much."

"You aren't seeing my side at all! You aren't taking this serious enough and you just keep telling me that it's no big deal and that I'm overreacting, but I don't think you are reacting to this enough," Remus said emotionally leaning forward in his seat. "If you would stop being so stubborn and just admit that there is something there then maybe we could get past this."

"I won't admit to something that I haven't done, or for that matter, something that isn't even real," I said, getting a bit heated. To be honest, I didn't even know who I was anymore. This wasn't like me either. Never have I lashed out like this, especially not during a class in front of all my classmates and my teacher. I wanted to stop fighting, but I just was so angry that I couldn't. "I will tell you again that whatever you think, is all just a misunderstanding. It isn't true and I'm sure if you just listen to me for a second and put your own ways aside, you would see it too."

"This is just classic Lyla," Remus said snidely. "Perfect Lyla is always right and everyone else is wrong." Remus just shook his head and laughed to himself. "I really don't even know why I got into this; I should have known that there was no way I was going to win with you. I'm just always wrong." Remus turned to James and put a hand on his shoulder and leaned toward him. "James, what do you think? Am I always wrong and Lyla is always right?" James panicked and just shook his head, wisely staying out of it.

"Remus, I've never said that I was perfect, I know that I'm not. And I'll admit that I'm not always right." I continued to look right at Remus even though his gaze was averted down to his lap now. "You and I both know that you aren't always wrong either. You always tell us the right thing to do." Remus looked up when I said this, his eyes holding a mix of desolation and anger. "However," I said hesitantly, "I do think that you are wrong about this." Remus threw his hands up. At this point in the conversation, it probably wasn't the best idea to bring that up.

"You are just so blind!" he exclaimed. "Why can't you see what he's trying to do?" Remus pointed toward the front of the class where Luke was still standing, both shocked and a little terrified. "Everyone can see except you. And frankly, I don't know if it's that you can't see or you don't want to see or you won't see. Maybe you don't want us to work this out. This could all just be a way out for you. Is that it, do you want what's between us to end?"

I went to retort but was cut off by an angry and frustrated voice. "Stop it! Both of you." I looked to where Luke had been standing the whole class and he was looking at Remus and I. "I will not tolerate this kind of bickering in my class. Now, the both of you will receive a detention. Mr. Lupin, you will serve your detention with me tomorrow night and Miss Parker you will serve yours with Professor McGonagall upon her return." I sank back into my seat knowing full well I deserved my punishment and feeling a bit ashamed. Blair gave me a comforting look and a nod.

"No," Remus said definitively. "I will do a detention, but I refuse to serve it with you." James looked at Remus perturbed. He whispered something to him but Remus just shook him off. "I will even do a double detention. I'll serve it with anyone but you."

Luke ran his fingers through his hair and took a deep breath. "Mr. Lupin, you will be serving detention with me tomorrow night at seven. I think it would be in your best interest to serve it with me. Seeing as I am the teacher and you are the student, you will adhere to what I say and show up promptly to my classroom tomorrow evening. Am I understood?" Remus nodded his head reluctantly. "Now," Luke continued, addressing the whole class, "It seems that none of us are in a state to have class now, so you are all dismissed."

Remus violently got up from his seat, grabbed his bag and then rushed out of the classroom. James, Remus, and Peter quickly gathered their things and followed after Remus. I put all my stuff back into my bag and slung the strap over my shoulder. "How are you doing sweetie?" Alexa asked, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"Terrible," I said choking back some tears. "Can we just go?" I asked wearily. Blair and Alexa both nodded there heads and put their arms around me. I looked up and saw Luke leaning up against a desk. He looked a bit frustrated and helpless. He gave me a tired smile but I just turned toward the door to the classroom. We left the classroom slowly and in silence.

I floated through the following two classes and lunch much like a ghost. As much as I loved learning and my classes, I just couldn't find the will to concentrate or even care. This was practically the first time in the history of my life that I didn't take notes in a class. It was like nothing had a purpose anymore. Alexa and Blair forced me to go to lunch with them, much to my dismay, but I couldn't eat. The nauseous feeling in my stomach just wouldn't allow it.

I was so relieved when my free period came after lunch. As Alexa, Sirius, and I departed toward the common room Remus went stalking off in the other direction to go who knows where. I arrived at Gryffindor Tower before Alexa and Sirius did, who were trailing behind me somewhere.

Taking advantage of this time alone, I headed up to my dorm and drew my covers back and eased down onto the bed. I closed my eyes in a lame attempt to get some sleep. Even though I knew I wasn't going to be able to fall asleep, I kept my eyes closed and just tried to numb my mind to escape from the world and my thoughts. Regardless of my best efforts, my thoughts rioted in my mind. Ever since the fight in The Three Broomsticks, I had been replaying every encounter with Luke that I could think of, just to see if I could have possibly missed something. The images that played in my head, however, were never actually real; they were just situations that my mind created.

Some ten minutes later, I heard the door open and footsteps coming into the room. Despite hearing these things, I didn't open my eyes. "Shh," I heard someone say. "Look at her, poor thing." It was Alexa. The footsteps came closer.

"She looks so peaceful," a male voice said, Sirius. "I bet this has been a rough few days on her, I know it's been tough on Remus." I heard Alexa's bed creak next to me as they took a seat. "It's just so sad, those two are perfect for each other. Or at least they were. Now, though, they make us look like a functional couple." What was it with these two always being the cause of waking me up? Did they have nothing better to do than interrupt my sleep?

"I can hear you," I said not moving from under my covers and keeping my eyes shut. There was a long pause. "What are you two doing up here?" I asked.

"What are you doing? We thought you were asleep," Alexa said. I opened one of my eyes and saw Sirius and Alexa sitting across from me, watching me intently.

"Well, I don't feel good, I'm tired and I want to sleep but I can't," I told them plainly. Alexa smiled at me devilishly and then slowly got up from her bed. She stood before me for a moment and then quickly moved to my side. She pulled the covers back, scooted me over and then climbed in next to me. Within a few seconds, Sirius had done the same and was on the other side of me. I was now sandwiched tightly between my lovely sister and her boyfriend.

"Since you can't sleep, we might as well keep you company," Alexa said. "So, hey, here's an idea," she said hopefully, "Let's have a little chatsie."

I set out a sigh. "Oh, Alexa, please, not right now," I whined. I sunk down lower into my pillow.

"Oh, come on, it will do you some good to talk it out. I've heard it is very therapeutic," she said very intelligently.

"Remus is being a dick and he hates me. I feel horrible all the time. I literally think that this whole thing is making me sick. And I don't think that I have anymore emotions. Remus and I can't even have a civil conversation about this and neither of us are really willing to compromise at this point, so, there we are," I rattled off quickly. "Okay, we talked, now let's just sit here in silence." Alexa nodded her head and her and Sirius both got quiet.

The three of us just sat there staring blankly ahead. "Well, this is cozy," Sirius said, clearly trying to fill the gap the silence had created. Alexa rolled her eyes at him. "I don't do well with silence," Sirius reminded us. I smiled, for what seemed like the first time in weeks. It was true, there was never a peaceful moment when Sirius was around. "How about we do the talking and you can just sit there if you want and you can jump in if you feel the need." I nodded my head unenthusiastically. "You don't have to raise your hand or anything, just speak up whenever." I gave him another nod.

"I would like to start off by saying, that even though I am technically on the side of Remus, know that I love you and we have a special best friend bond that could never be broken." I nodded my head in confirmation. "But really, this bond is so strong, that if it were to ever break, the whole world would cry and all the children that in habit the world would have their dreams crushed and the sky would permanently turn black. It's that epic." I looked up at Sirius, who tried to get a smile out of me.

"Look, I know right now it seems like nothing is going to change, I assure you that it will start looking up soon. Just don't give up, I know that you two can pull through this. You just have to believe in your dreams." I gave Sirius a weak appreciative smile.

Alexa looked like she was contemplating something in her mind. She shrugged her shoulders. "Or, you could just break up with him," she said. Sirius and I both looked at her in surprise.

"Alexa!" Sirius exclaimed. "We are supposed to be supportive of Lyla."

Alexa quickly defended herself. "I just mean, maybe some time apart from each other would be good for you two. It could make you realize that you guys are supposed to be together and it will give this whole situation some time to cool down. Clearly you guys are going to be together forever; so being apart for a little while won't be that big of a deal."

"Alexa, that is the worst idea ever," I told her. "As mad as I am at Remus right now, I know in my heart I don't want to break up with him. I just hope he feels the same way," I said returning to my saddened stupor. "Oh, and Sirius, just so you know, you are allowed to talk to our side freely now and I consider you an honorary member of my side." Sirius smiled broadly and then nudged me with his shoulder in thanks. "As for you," I said to Alexa, "Why don't you just go and join the other side. But, I'll tell you right now, that side doesn't have near as many the perks as this side."

"Oh, come on!" she said. "You know what I meant." I smiled to myself and then leaned my head on her shoulder. "Lyla, no matter what happens, you always have me." I nodded my head. "And you have Sirius; you know, until he does something stupid again and then we have to hate him, leading eventually to me having to dump his sorry ass. But, up until then he's here." Sirius fake laughed and playfully hit Alexa in the back of the head.

"Ha, ha, ha!" Sirius embellished. "That's a fake laugh by the way," he informed us.

When the time came for us to go to Astronomy, the three of us gathered up our stuff and headed for the Astronomy Tower. This is the class I had been dreading since I woke up this morning. That was before I knew we were going to have Luke in Transfiguration and now, it was just going to be a whole lot of awkward and tension. We filed into the classroom where we found James and Blair already seated. As we waited for class to start, I looked around the room looking for Remus, but he was nowhere to be seen. Luke came out from his office.

"For tonight," Luke said, "Just read the next chapter in your book and take notes." The class collectively grumbled as they lazily flipped through the pages of our book. I opened my own book to the page where the chapter began and glanced down at the page. At his desk, Luke was looking over a sheet that was on his desk. He looked up suddenly and scanned to class with a puzzled look. He then looked at me and made his way over to where we were sitting. He stopped in front of me and said, "Lyla, where is Remus?"

I looked up at him blankly and said, "I don't know." A concerned look came onto his face and he just nodded and returned back to his desk where he just sat there for the rest of class, his chin in his hand, in thought.

All of Astronomy passed and there was still no sign on Remus. He wasn't at dinner after class, he wasn't in the common room, and he wasn't in his dorm. As mad as I was at him, I was starting to get really concerned. James and Sirius left to go and find him as Alexa, Blair, and I sat around in the common room waiting for their return. As I laid still on the soft couch, Alexa was attempting to do her Transfiguration homework and Blair was reading a magazine and spouting off random things that she was reading, in an attempt to distract me no doubt.

* * *

"I think I'm actually getting this," Alexa said ecstatically writing something down. "It's just like all of a sudden, everything just clicks." I smiled to myself as I watched light bulb after light bulb turn on in Alexa's head.

"Did you know, that by just drinking water, your hair would become shinier and way healthier?" Blair asked with a forced interest. I nodded faking my own interest. "They also say that you should drink up to eight to ten glasses of water each day." Blair had this look of amazement on her face. "Isn't that interesting Lyla?"

"Blair, you don't have to do this," I told her languidly. I stared deep into the flames before me and tried to lose myself in them.

"Do what?" she asked innocently. "I just thought it was interesting and I think that we should all drink more water." Yeah, okay.

I shook my head as I sat up on the couch. "Okay," I told her. "All this talk of water has made me realize that I have to pee," I said changing the conversation. "I'll be right back."

"Alright, but hurry back, there is a whole article in here about getting naturally glowing skin," Blair called out after me as I made my way toward the stairs leading up to the dorms. I slowly climbed the stairs, not in any rush to return back downstairs. When I got up to my dormitory I went into the bathroom and closed the door behind me locking it. I went over to the sink and placed my hands on either side and looked at my reflection. My eyes were lifeless, my hair was a mess, and I looked so tired and old. I hung my head not wanting to look at myself any longer. Suddenly I was reminded of why I was up here in the first place by a straining pressure on my bladder.

_Twenty-five minutes later._

Oh, my God. Oh shit. What the hell was I going to do? This had to be wrong. I slowly opened the door to the bathroom and stepped out still in a daze. Scared out of my mind I returned back to the common room and walked, almost as if I was a zombie, over to where Alexa and Blair were still sitting. "Where the hell have you been?" Alexa asked. "You should have been here, I just answered this question that Blair didn't even know how to do. It was outstanding."

"I have been waiting forever to read this article to you," Blair said still looking at her magazine. When she looked up, her face turned to worry when she saw me. "Lyla, what's wrong?" she asked worriedly.

"We need to go upstairs right now," I said simply. Alexa looked at me strangely but I just turned back to the stairs and headed up to our dorm. Once in our room, I closed and locked the door behind me and Alexa and Blair both took a seat on my bed as I paced the floor before them.

"Lyla, why are you pacing? What's going on?" Alexa asked, looking for answers. Answers that I really didn't want to give.

"We need to talk about something," I said seriously. I paused not really sure how to go about this. Every option that I came up with just seemed more of a failure as the last. I looked at Alexa and her eyes suddenly widened.

"Okay, look, I wanted to tell you guys but I didn't really know how. It just kind of happened, and it only happened one time," Alexa said quickly, as if she was admitting to some crime. Blair and I looked at her quizzically. "Who told you anyways?" she asked me.

I shook my head in confusion. "Wait, what are you talking about? Who told me what?" I asked placing my hands on my hips, instantly drawn in to whatever Alexa had gotten into.

Alexa looked from Blair to me and then back to Blair. She shrunk back in retreat and said, "Oh, never mind. It's nothing." I narrowed my eyes at her and she gave me a nervous smile and laugh. Needless to say, Alexa didn't get the gene for lying.

"Yeah, something tells me that it isn't nothing. Maybe it's your shamefaced look or perhaps it's the fact that you can't lie to save your life. Pick either one you prefer," Blair said with a smile. "Now, spill missy."

"Crap," Alexa muttered. She let out a sigh and resigned to telling us what she was hiding. "Well, Sirius and I may or may not have had sex," she said lowering her voice at the tail end of her sentence. I leaned closer thinking that I couldn't have possibly heard her correctly.

"Sorry, what was that?" I asked wanting a confirmation.

"Sirius and I had sex!" she practically yelled. Blair and I looked at each other in awe. "Look, it's not a big deal, and I would be happy to discuss this with you all later; but seeing as this is clearly not what you wanted to talk about, we should hear what you have to say first."

All of a sudden, I wish I just wouldn't have said anything. I wonder if I could just bypass this and just go back to Alexa's news. However, the look in Blair and Alexa's eyes told me no such luck. I took a deep breath and then continued my pacing. I knew I had to tell someone but I was afraid. I've never been more terrified in my life. I just was going to have to suck it up. I stopped walking and looked up at Blair and Alexa who were no doubt extremely confused. "Lyls, what's wrong?" Blair asked leaning forward a bit, a highly concerned look on her face.

I gave them a weak smile and feeling tears well up in my eyes, took a breath and just came right out with it. "I think I'm pregnant," I said as tears started to roll down my face. Not wanting to see their reactions, I sat on Alexa's bed and cradled my face in my hands, letting the sobs roll out of me. The room was completely silent and my thoughts were bouncing all over the place. I felt the bed sink slowly on either side of me and two arms covering my shoulders.

"Lyla," I heard Alexa say to my right, "Talk to us. Tell us what happened."

I brought my face out my hands and wiped at the tears that were still streaming. "Well, I'm almost a month late for my period. At first I thought it was no big deal, because I've been stressed and all and then today, it felt like I was going to start but I didn't. Then I started freaking out and thinking and it all started to make sense. I have been extremely tired, I feel sick almost all the time, especially in the morning, and I have to pee all the time. I just don't know what else it could possibly be."

Blair looked like she was about to start crying with me as she rubbed gentle circles on my back. "Okay, look," Alexa said trying to remain calm, but I could tell she was totally freaked out, "We don't know anything for sure yet. We just need to get you checked out and find out for sure."

"Alexa, I can't go to Madame Pomfrey," I said quickly, wanting to avoid that at all costs. "No one can know about this; I don't want anyone to know," I told them both.

"Well, obviously you're going to have to tell Remus," Blair said. I immediately shook my head.

"She will do no such thing, not yet at least," Alexa responded. I nodded my head furiously, liking where Alexa was coming from.

"Alexa, Remus has a right to know; he is the father of the child," Blair said passionately.

"I just think she should wait until this fight is over and until she finds out definitely if she's even pregnant." The sound of that word made me shiver. I still couldn't fully believe that I could actually be pregnant. My parents were going to kill me. "Remus shouldn't hear this kind of news when they're in the middle of a fight. You should wait for the air to clear between you two," Alexa advised me.

"I think I like Alexa's idea better," I said. That was one conversation I did not want to have right now. How was I going to tell Remus even after we stopped fighting? And then I had a thought that struck me to the core. "What if Remus and I break up?" I asked. "I'll be all alone. I'll be all alone with a child to raise. I don't think I can do this," I said frantically, starting to panic.

Alexa grabbed my face and turned my face to her. "Lyla, you need to get a hold of yourself. I know this is scary, but know that whatever happens, Blair and I will always be here for you, even if Remus isn't. We will help you get through this." I gave her a weak smile and took another deep breath. I started to feel light-headed from all of this. "First things first, we need to figure out a way to find out if you actually are pregnant."

"Isn't there some kind of spell for that?" Blair asked hopefully.

"I'm sure there is," I said, "but it's not like they teach that sort of thing in Charms class."

"No problem," Alexa said standing up before us, looking very in control, which was new for her. "We will just get some books from the library. We'll do a little research, learn the spell and then put your mind at ease either way." I nodded my head in compliance, seeing as I was kind of limited on options. "Now that that's settled," Alexa said her face turning angry, "I swear I am going to kick Remus's ass! How dare he get you pregnant and then treat you this way."

"Well, Alex, to be fair, he doesn't even know that she's pregnant," Blair tried to reason.

Alex shrugged her shoulders. "Point taken, but still, he got her pregnant!"

"It's not like he was alone in the act," I told her. "I'm as much to blame as he is. We had sex and these things happen."

"That's beside the point. Right now I just feel like blaming the prick, so that's what I'm going to do." Alexa looked over at me and clearly saw that I was still really freaked out. Now, more than anything, I just wished my mind were back to its numbed state so I could escape my thoughts. "More importantly," Alexa said coming back to sit with me, "How are you doing with all this?"

I laughed a bit. "I'm terrified. I know I'm not ready to have a baby and I'm afraid of a hundred different things at once. I'm scared of what everyone will think, of what Mom and Dad will say, that Remus will somehow resent me because it's like I'm tying him to me definitely now… I'm just scared. But I do feel a little better after having told someone."

We sat there in silent for a few moments and then Alexa broke the silence all too willingly. "So," she said drawing it out, "If by chance the baby is a girl, what are the chances of you naming it after me?" I gave her a pleading look and she quickly retreated. "Too soon?" she asked and I nodded my head. "Right, sorry." I smiled slightly and shook my head.

"Tomorrow, we will go to the library and get a bunch of books and sort this whole thing out," Blair said comfortingly. "We will be with you every step of the way." I nodded my head, knowing that to be true. I knew that I would always have Blair and Alexa, and knowing that put me at some sort of ease.

As we sat there I began to picture things in my mind. I tried to picture myself with a baby and as a mother. The sight was so strange and it made me feel uneasy. An image of a child crying in my arms then came into my brain. I couldn't get it to stop crying no matter what I did. "What if I'm a terrible mother?" I asked no one in particular, it was more of a thought out loud.

"Lyla, don't be crazy," Blair said not taking my comment to heart.

"Yeah, really, Lyla. You are practically a mother to Blair and I, and I know for a fact that Sirius thinks of you as his second mum. You parent him more than his own mother does," Alexa said, sounding a bit angry at the mention of Sirius's mother. "You are always there for us, you listen to us whatever our mood, you keep us all grounded, you even punish us when we need to be and no matter what we do, you never stop loving us."

"You are going to be a fantastic mother even if you're becoming one sooner than you thought," Blair added giving my shoulders a squeeze. "Any child would be lucky to have you as their mom, your kids are going to be the envies of all their friends." I laughed slightly at this.

At this, I began to think of my own parents, and all my happy thoughts melted away quickly. I turned to Alexa. "Mom and Dad are going to kill me," I said in a weak scared voice. "And if Gran Parker were alive, what would she think?"

"First off, Gran Parker has been dead for a long time, so I highly doubt there's a chance that's she'll come back and judge you, but then again, I wouldn't put it past her," Alexa said. I smiled at the thought of Gran Parker coming back from the dead to essentially kick my ass. "As for Mom and Dad, they love you. Sure, they'll be mad, furious even, but they'll get over it eventually and I'll totally back you up." I seriously contemplated for a moment as to what my chances were to getting away with being pregnant and never having to tell my parents.

The little voice inside my head told me my odds weren't good at all, but there wasn't anything stopping me from trying. "Now," Alexa said patting my leg and getting up from the bed, "I want you to get ready for bed and get a good night's sleep. I want my niece or nephew to be healthy, and I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that happens. So, get some sleep." I nodded my head knowing she was right.

Before Blair and Alexa left, I pulled them both into a tight hug. "Thank you so much," I told them. They both gave me a smile and then left the room to head back down to the common room. I quickly got changed into my most comfortable pajamas and snuggled in under my covers. I placed my hand on my stomach and then, for the first time in quite a while, I fell into a deep and unwavering sleep.

* * *

_Remus's POV_

"Hey Remus!" I heard someone yell as I uttered the password to the Fat Lady. "Moony, mate, wait up," the same person shouted. I had an idea of who it was, but that didn't matter. I quickly entered in through the portrait hole and continued to head toward the stairs leading up to my dorm. As I heard the person who had yelled for me in the corridor following behind me, I realized that there was an additional person there too. I took the steps two at a time and threw the door open then going over to my trunk at the foot of the bed.

As I rummaged through my trunk, the door flew open again and James and Sirius filed in looking a little angry. "Remus, where the hell have you been?" Sirius asked. "We haven't seen you since Transfiguration yesterday. You never came back last night and you took the map, so we couldn't even find you that way, just to check to see if you were safe," he scolded.

I resigned what I was doing and turned to face them. "You guys not finding me was kind of the whole point," I said a bit harshly. "That's why I took the map."

"Moony, you have got to stop this, just talk to us. We are you're best mates, you can tell us anything, it's not healthy to keep all your emotions bottled up like this," James said, sounding very concerned.

"Well, being unhealthy really isn't one of my top concerns at the moment," I told them sarcastically. "And I don't want to talk about it. Talking won't make anything disappear, talking clearly can't make Lyla understand, and talking sure as hell isn't going to make me feel better."

James and Sirius just looked at me. "Cut the bullshit, Remus," Sirius said angrily. "We know that this is hard on you. Up until now, you and Lyla haven't so much as bickered and this is a pretty huge thing to fight about." I looked away from Sirius and headed over to my dresser. "I know that if it was me, I wouldn't want to talk about it either, I'll be the first to admit it, but then I always knew that you would make me talk. So, now I'm returning the favor. Just talk to us, Moony. Just for a few minutes, and if after that you still want to go to wherever you've been hiding, then I won't stop you."

I palmed the shirt that I was now holding in my hand. I knew Sirius was right, but I really didn't want to have to admit that. I also knew that even though they said they wouldn't stop me from leaving, as soon as I tried to walk out that door they would either stop me or follow me to where I was going. I put the shirt down and silently turned around. "Alright, let's talk," I said. A smug smile spread across Sirius's face, and I had half a mind to knock it right off.

"Okay, to start off," James said, sitting on the chair beside my bed, "Where the hell have you been hiding out all this time?"

"The Shrieking Shack," I told him, walking back over to my bed to take a seat. "It's the only place I could think to go, where I knew no one, well at least everyone but you, could find me."

"I can't believe we didn't think to look there," Sirius said, feeling a bit ashamed that they hadn't thought of it. "So you slept there last night?"

"Yeah. It was uncomfortable as hell, but I couldn't come back here." I took a deep breath and prepared myself to share it all. "After Transfiguration, I felt like I couldn't, or shouldn't see Lyla until this was all worked out, if it ever does get there," I said, sadness filling me.

"First," James said, "You'll work it out. It's just going to take some time. And second, you aren't going to be able to avoid her, she's kind of everywhere. I mean, the castle is big, but not that big. You'll have to go to class eventually."

"I know," I told him. But did I really? If I could have it my way, I would never go to class and only return to the castle to get food and clothes. At this point I would really do anything. "The things that I said during that class," I said getting angry with myself. "Even though I am furious with her right now, I know she doesn't deserve that. I don't deserve her." James and Sirius just nodded their heads as they listened. "I just get so angry," I said frustrated. "It pisses me off that Professor Wolfe is the problem here, yet I'm the one to get all the blame."

"You know," James spoke up, "There was this one time that Blair blamed me for ripping her favorite picture of us together. You know that picture that I look completely hideous in that she took right after we started dating? Well, she knew that I hated that picture, and when she found a part of it ripped off one day, she automatically assumed it was me." Sirius and I looked at each other trying to figure out exactly where this story was going and if it had any relevance to what we were talking. "I told her that I hadn't ripped it but she just refused to believe me. After several hours of the silent treatment, I finally just lied and told her I did it and that I was sorry; and then she forgave me."

"James," Sirius said in a shocked tone. "I think Remus's problem is a bit more complicated than that. You ripped a picture and Remus ripped Lyla's heart." I gave Sirius a look. He was always so efficient at making you feel better. "I just mean, that this story is no help what so ever."

"The moral of the story is," James said in an 'as a matter of fact' way, "That even if you don't think you're wrong, just saying that you were can get you two on the road to recovery. If you truly want to stop all this fighting, this is a little sacrifice you can make for you're relationship."

"But James, this is so much more than just admitting to something that I didn't do," I tried to explain. "This is too big that I can't just say never mind, and it will all just go away. And besides, I can't lie about something like this, no matter how much I love Lyla and want to be with her. "I know what I saw was real, he is love with her James." I could feel the anger building inside me as I thought of all the times that I had seen Professor Wolfe and Lyla together.

"Not that I don't believe you Remus, but, how can you tell that he feels that way about her?" Sirius asked.

"Because he looks at her the same way that I did when I first saw her and fell in love with her. He looks at her as if by being near her, she makes all things clearer. She makes colors brighter, smells sharper, and life fuller. Looking at her, it makes your life feel complete, like it has a whole new meaning. When you see her smile, you suddenly are filled with a need to always make her happy because you never want to see her lose that smile. You have a look at her as if you're afraid she'll disappear and you'll be alone, and you can't live without her." I hung my head and looked at the floor. Lyla's smiling face came into my mind and for a moment I thought about running out of the dorm to find Lyla and just grovel at her feet. But I didn't. "And that's the way he looks at her. So, to answer you're question, that's how I know. I've been him."

"Remus," Sirius said quietly. "Lyla is hurting too. She's completely torn up and she wants this to end just as much as you do. Just sit down and talk to her. Tell her everything that you told me."

"Have you not seen what has happened every single time we've tried to talk? We only end up at each other's throats," I told him. "I don't know if we can talk about this. For that matter, I don't know if it would even help. Professor Wolfe will still be here and the whole thing will just happen again."

"That's where you're going to have to take a look at yourself mate," James said. "While Professor Wolfe will be here even if you and Lyla patch things up, if you don't let it bother you, you won't get jealous, and there won't be a problem."

I sighed as I thought about what he said. "It's not just Professor Wolfe though. No matter where we go, there is always going to be someone who likes Lyla, she's just so damn likeable. And one of these times, it's going to be a guy that she just can't pass up. Why would she settle for someone like me when she could have so much better?"

"Because she loves you and you're the one she wants," Sirius said in a tone as if I was completely stupid. "You have always been the one for her and, you know, you're not that bad. Remus, any girl would be lucky to have you." I went to bring a valid point to the table, but Sirius prohibited that, already knowing what I was going to say. "And if you bring that weak 'I'm a werewolf' crap, I will kick you're ass. Yes, technically you are a werewolf, but that isn't you. You are so much more than that, and you know it."

I just nodded my head not really knowing what else to say. Nothing they said now, however, would make me feel better. I hated myself at the moment. I hated who I had become, I didn't even know who I was anymore. I looked down at my watch and saw that it was nearing seven o'clock. Seeing me look at my watch, James said, "Well, aren't you glad we talked? Didn't it make you feel loads better?"

I smiled a bit. "Yeah, not really," I told him.

"I give us an 'O' for trying though," Sirius said, shrugging his shoulders.

I stood up from my bed and returned to the dresser where I had been gathering some clothes. "Well, boys, I will be in the Shrieking Shack if you need me. And I'll ask you to please not tell anyone where I am," I said as I put a couple shirts and a pair of jeans into the bag that I had gotten out of my trunk.

"Remus, why don't you just stay, at least for a little while longer. We can get some food and then you can leave," James tried to persuade.

I shook my head as I glanced down at my watch again. "I can't do that, James. I need to get out of the castle before Professor Wolfe comes looking for me because I skipped his detention."

"You're going to skip a detention?" Sirius asked shocked. He smiled a bit to himself. "Wow, I never thought the roles would ever be reversed. I also can't believe I'm about to say this, but I think you should go to the detention." I eyed Sirius, seriously worried that he was coming down with something. "If you skip, more attention will be drawn to you and I don't know how long James and I are going to be able to lie for you." Since when was Sirius concerned with lying to teachers?

"Sirius, you know that I can't go," I told him definitively.

"And you know that I can't keep a secret. What's to keep me from spilling this whole conversation to Alexa or even Lyla herself," Sirius said using it as leverage shamelessly. Damn him.

Finding no other way out of it, I just complied. "Fine, I'll go, but if I kill him, I'm blaming you." Sirius shrugged his shoulders accepting it. I sat my bag down by my bed. "I'll be back for that later," I told them. They nodded and then I headed out of the dorm.

When I arrived outside the door to Professor Wolfe's office, I just stood there. I sat there and stared at the door. I kept telling myself to stop being a baby and go in. You could endure this for an hour, or at least you would try. When I finally had mustered up enough courage, I slowly lifted a fist and rapped on the door. A few moments later, the door swung open and Professor Wolfe was standing in the doorway. "Ah, good evening, Mr. Lupin. You're right on time." He motioned for me to come in. As I entered his office, I suddenly wanted to turn around and leave. "Have a seat Remus," he said, signaling to a chair and then moving around his desk to take his own seat. I sat down in the small leather chair defensively and watched Wolfe just look back at me. Nothing was said, and the silence was making me a bit uncomfortable, but I supposed it was a lot better than if we were to actually talk. "So…," he said, trailing off.

I just remained silent. He continued to inspect me. "I'm not going to talk to you. I don't care if you are a teacher, I will not discuss anything with you," I told him bitterly.

"That's fine," he said sitting back in his chair and folding his arms. "We can just sit here for an hour, if that's what you prefer."

I shook my head at the cheeky bastard in front of me. "Just tell me what you want me to do for my punishment and I'll do it."

"I don't want you to do anything," he told me. What was this guy playing at? "You and I both know detentions aren't your sort of thing. We both also know that you don't deserve this, you have been under a lot of pressure and it's completely understandable."

"No, I deserve to be punished," I quickly told him. "So, give me something to do, to pay for what I have done," I pleaded, wanting all this chitchat to stop.

"I don't want you to do anything other than talk to me," he said. I swear, what was it with everyone all of a sudden jumping on this 'talk' bandwagon. Before now, everyone else just sat and brooded about their problems, and now their just jumping over to the other side of the fence. This was just simply unacceptable.

"Well, to be honest with you Professor, I'm a bit talked out for the day," I said. Even if I did want to talk, he was the last person I wanted to talk to.

"Have you talked to Lyla since the fight in Transfiguration?" he asked, clearly not knowing the meaning of not talking.

"You know, if you want me to talk, you probably shouldn't talk about my girlfriend, proving my point even more," I said highly annoyed now.

Professor Wolfe let out a deep breath. "Remus, Lyla and I are friends. While we are friends, she is also my student and I am her teacher. I both observe and respect the lines that are drawn because of my position. I value her as a friend and as an intellect and because of that, I would never put her in a position." Even as he said this with a genuine look on his face, something just told me he was lying.

"How can you sit there and lie to me, when I've seen you with her?" I asked raising my tone. "You may be friends, but you look at her like a hell of a lot more than a friend."

"Remus," he said leaning forward to rest his elbows on his desk, "I will admit, that Lyla is a very attractive girl, and I can see where you would think that I would like her as more than a friend. She is smart, funny, and a good friend. I can understand the threat that you feel Remus, I can." Of course he understood. He was the one trying to steal her away. "But, I can assure you, that I am not a threat here. I have no intention of taking Lyla away from you. I needed a friend when I first came here, and Lyla was one of the only people who were willing to be a friend. I never meant to cause all these problems.

"As a friend, I want what's best for Lyla, and that's you. She truly loves you, and what you two have is special. I will do whatever you need me to do to help patch things up with Lyla. If you want me to stay away I will, if you want me to limit my seeing Lyla, just to class time, I will. Anything you ask Remus."

I thought about what he said for a moment. "Tell me the truth," I told him simply. "I won't tell Lyla anything, but for my own satisfaction, I want the truth."

Professor Luke sucked in a quick breath and then looked down at his desk. He seemed to be struggling with what to say. "Okay, if that's what you want." I nodded my head confirming that that's indeed what I wanted. "When I first came here and I met Lyla in the corridor for the first time, she immediately struck me. She was stunning and she spoke so eloquently. At first, I honestly didn't even connect the fact that she was a student, she just seemed so much older." I felt a wave of possession sweep over me. "Then when she turned up in my first Astronomy class, I quickly told myself that she was a student and that nothing could happen between us. I later found that she had a boyfriend and that even convinced me even more that nothing could come of this. At first, no matter how much I told myself this, the feelings didn't dissipate.

"As I continued to get to know Lyla, I liked her more and more each time I saw her, but I always tried not to let my feelings show. I shut them away and hoped they would disappear. You must believe me when I say that I didn't want this. It wasn't until one day when Lyla was talking about you that I realized I didn't have a chance in hell with her, even if I wasn't a teacher. The way she talked about you, just told me that she was undeniably in love with you. At that moment, I really shut away the feelings forever and accepted and welcomed that I would only be a friend with her. However, I suppose the damage was already done."

I sat there taking it all in. I felt a mix of emotions swelling within me. Part of me was fulfilled knowing that I was right. Part of me was ecstatic to think that maybe things would get better now. And there was that undeniable part of me that still wanted to punch this guy in the face. "Thank you for being honest," I finally told him. "You don't have to stop being friends with Lyla, because I know that would upset her, but how do I know that this isn't all just a bunch of bullshit?"

"Remus, I can promise you right now that it isn't. But if concerns arise later on, just come to me. Call me out on it; punch me if you have to. Do whatever it is you think you need to for me to get the picture," he said. I smiled at the thought of actually hitting him. I won't lie; even in my head it felt good. I nodded my head accepting the terms. For the first time since I entered the room, I relaxed. "Now that we've come to this understanding, you go on ahead and get out of here. I have already taken too much of your time." I slowly got up from the chair, walked up to the door and pulled it open slightly.

"Thank you, Professor," I told him. He gave me a nod and then I left closing the door behind me.

When I opened to door to the dormitory, I didn't expect to see Sirius and James. Both of them were sitting in there respective beds. James was reading a Quidditch book and Sirius was reading one of his magazines. As I stepped into the room they both looked up at me. "Hey, how'd it go?" James asked.

Noticing that the bag I had packed was no longer beside my bed, I said, "Where's my bag?"

Sirius smiled slightly. "I accidentally unpacked it," he said slyly. "I put the bag in your trunk. You can pack it up again if you really want to." I looked over at my open trunk. I slowly walked over to it and saw the empty bag lying there. I knew what I had to do. I closed the trunk, and as I did, it felt more like a symbol of closing the door to everything that had happened and now I was ready to open up the door to the future. "It's good to have you back brother," Sirius said with a smile, as if he knew that I was going to do this all along. What a prat.

* * *

_Lyla's POV_

* * *

"Okay, well here it says that in the first trimester, you will be subject to extreme mood swings," Blair said, starting off on a good note. We had gathered nearly every single book that we could find on being pregnant and various medical books and had congregated at the farthest back table away from library wanderers. As I sat in one of the chairs as Blair and Alexa read off certain things from two of the books we collected. To say the least, from what I've heard so far, I'm even more scared and nervous than before.

"Well, that sounds lovely," I told her sarcastically. "I guess that explains why I've been furious one minute and extremely sad the next." At least now I have something to blame it on." Blair gave me a smile, actually thinking that I was seeing an upside to this.

Alexa flipped a page in the book that she was eagerly reading. I don't think I've ever seen her read this much or this fast. "Oh, man, this is extremely fascinating," she mused. "Did you know that your baby could be born with a tail?" she asked. I shrunk back at the thought. I didn't want my baby to have a tail.

"Here's a plus," Blair said hoping this would make me feel better. "It says that your boobs are going to get huge." I subconsciously looked down at my chest, but there was no change that I could see. She gave me a smile and I just shook my head and laughed at her. "That's pretty exciting, isn't it?"

"Oh, yeah, thrilling," I told her, still laughing. God bless her for trying.

"Hey, I wonder if your baby could be a Cyclops," Alexa said curiously, looking up from her book for only a minute. But it only took that minute to completely freak me out. I started to panic.

"Do you think my baby could actually be a Cyclops?" I asked nervously looking back and forth between Alexa and Blair.

Blair just shook her head assuredly and then Alexa said, "Yeah, probably. They say in this book, a woman in Russia gave birth to a Cyclops."

"Alexa!" Blair scolded. "You are freaking her out."

I nodded my head vigorously in agreement. Alexa looked up again and saw my worried face. "Oh," she said sheepishly. "Well, I doubt your baby will be a Cyclops. Most members in our family have two eyes anyway, so I wouldn't even worry about it." She looked back down at her book but paused. "But wouldn't it be kind of cool to have a Cyclops for a child?" she asked. I just gave her a look. My sister, ladies and gentleman; the girl who wants her niece or nephew to be a Cyclops.

"You never cease to amaze me," she said to Alexa. "Now, Lyla, if it turns out that you are, well, you know, this recommends taking prenatal vitamins. It also says to stay away from caffeine," Blair told me.

Blair went to continue but she was stopped by another amazing thing that could be wrong with my baby when it's born. "Holy crap! This one is wild," she said excitedly. She leaned forward in her seat and cleared her throat. "Hermaphroditism. Hermaphrodites are people that are born with both male and female sex tissue. The external genitals are mixed ambiguously containing both. The ovaries and testes can either be mixed or completely separate." She looked up at us with wide eyes. "Wouldn't that be wild?" she asked almost excited at the possibility.

"Put that book away now," I said sternly. I could not be hearing this kind of stuff now. I was having a hard enough time trying to cope with the fact that I may actually be pregnant, but now I have to also be worried about my baby being a he/she Cyclops with a tail.

Alexa just smiled as if I was joking. "Oh, come on, none of this is going to have to you. We turned out fine, and so will Alexa Jr.," she said shaking my concern off.

"Don't you dare think for a second that you will be calling any child of mine by that," I informed her. "If I actually am pregnant," I said in a whisper, "There is no chance in hell that I am going to name my child Alexa Jr. It's just not going to happen so you might as well just forget about that right now." Alexa huffed and looked back down at her book.

"Lyla," Blair said still reading. "Are you sure you shouldn't just go to Madame Pomfrey?" she asked. I knew that I probably should but I just couldn't. "All these books say that you should go and see a doctor. You need to know what you can and can't do, they say you need to have regular checkups to monitor the baby, and you need to make sure you stay healthy."

"Blair, I know you're concerned, and so am I," I told her. "But I can't do that right now. I want to find out if this is even real first. Could you imagine if I went to Madame Pomfrey about this and it turned out to be nothing? There would be a lot of uncomfortable questions that I really don't feel like answering."

"Well, that's ironic," Alexa said to herself.

"I thought I told you to stop reading that book," I said a little annoyed.

"This is the last one I swear," she promised. "You've got to hear this one though. It says that in muggle babies there is a condition called Human Werewolf Syndrome." I felt my heart begin to ache. This was the first time that any of us had mentioned Remus since James and Sirius told us that they hadn't been able to find him last night. I was worried about him; and I felt solely responsible for his being gone. "I mean, isn't it hilarious that they think werewolves aren't real?" Alexa started to laugh a bit. But this brought another thought to my mind. I quickly shook my mind of the thought.

"You are worried about him aren't you?" Blair asked.

I nodded my head. "It's just scary not knowing. What if he's hurt? And I feel like I'm to blame," I told them. "If hadn't become friends with Luke, none of this would have happened. Everything would be normal again." Well almost everything, I thought as my fingers brushed my stomach as I moved my hand. This whole thing was a mess, and I made it. "Don't you ever wish we could go back to the simplistic days of first year?"

"Everyday," Alexa said without adornment. "Back to the days when boys had cooties, classes were easy, and all girls weren't conniving bitches. Man, those were the days," she said mystically as she reminisced. Oh, how I missed those days too. Everything was just so much simpler back then. Back then, my biggest concern was remembering to brush my teeth everyday, and now, I had to worry about whether I was pregnant or not and whether or not the father even liked me anymore. That's a pretty significant jump if you ask me.

As the entire day started to sink in, I became extremely tired. I let out a sigh. "Well, I don't know about you guys, but all this 'interesting' research has made me rather tired," I said yawning a bit. They all agreed with various groans and mumbles. We stacked up all the books and returned them back to their rightful places as quickly as we could.

After making the walk, which seems excruciatingly long when you're tired, back to Gryffindor Tower, we finally made it into the familiar feeling of the common room. As we entered into the common room we were still laughing a bit at Alexa saying that she thought that Sirius had to be a hermaphrodite, because there was no true boy who was that obsessed with his looks. When I looked forward to the stairs leading to the dormitories, my laughter stopped. Coming down the stairs and turning into the common room was Remus. He looked tired and worn. He too stopped suddenly when he saw me. After a few silent and awkward moments passed, Remus continued walking toward Alexa, Blair and I.

He stopped in front of us and looked down at his shoes nervously. When he looked up at me, he had sadness in his eyes. "Hey," he said quietly. Not able to speak I nodded in reply. "How are you?" he asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

I tried to formulate a response but no appropriate words came to mind. This was the first time that I had seen him since our last fight and since I discovered that I might be carrying his child. Needless to say it was a bit awkward. I had already decided that I wasn't going to tell Remus yet about any of this, but part of me wanted to tell him everything and have him hold me and tell me that everything is going to be alright. These thoughts flittered away and anger drifted into me. "Where have you been?" I asked, anger straining my voice.

"I just had to get away from this for a little bit," he said letting out a breath. "But now I see things a lot clearer and I was actually on my way to find—."

"You can't just leave like that," I told him. "You can't just leave when things get tough." I was mostly talking about the fighting, but deep in my mind I knew I was also talking about possibly being pregnant. If I was in fact pregnant, I had to know that Remus was all in or all out. Then again he didn't know anything about it, so I can't really blame him, but I just kept fuming. "I don't have the luxury to walk away from this like you do." The thought of Remus leaving me forever made me feel uneasy. How did I even know Remus would want anything to do with this baby, or with me? As much as I didn't want to have to admit it right now, I needed Remus. The one time that I really needed him, and I couldn't have him.

"Lyla, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you this much by leaving," he said looking at me concerned. "What's really going on?" he asked, sensing that something else was going on. I felt like I should tell him but I knew I couldn't. Once again, I couldn't find the words.

Alexa, obviously seeing that I was struggling, stepped in to help. "Nothing," she said quickly. "There's nothing going on." Remus looked at the three of us, searching our faces to try and figure out what was going on. "And, on that note, we need to get to bed." She put her hand on my back and pulled me along with her as she started to move toward the stairs to the dorms.

"You guys go ahead," he said to Blair and Alexa. "I want to talk to Lyla for a few minutes."

"No!" Blair and Alexa exclaimed at once. "Lyla really needs to get some sleep, as do we all. You guys can talk tomorrow or some other day in the future," Blair told him.

"I'd actually like to talk to her now. It's kind of important," he said stressing the importance.

"Well, that's just too damn bad," Alexa said taking a different approach. "It is time for bed and this is not time for talking. So, step aside and let us by." She narrowed her eyes and stared at Remus. Instead of backing down, Remus just crossed his arms and looked back Alexa, matching her intensity.

"Remus," I said weakly, "I'm really exhausted." Remus's gaze softened when he looked at me. "I don't really feel like talking right now. I am trying to process a lot, and I'm not quite ready to discuss." Remus nodded his head in acceptance and slowly stepped aside. Alexa, Blair and I went around Remus and headed up the stairs. As I closed the door to our dorm, it felt as if I was closing the door on life as I knew it.

* * *

Baby Blue's Author Note: Well! How's that for a turn of events? I hope that you all enjoyed that as much as I did and know that there is so many good things coming up for this story. Really and truly, though, I'm starting to get a little nostalgic. The two year anniversary of this story is coming up! Can you all believe that? Two years and twenty-eight chapters later and see how much these characters have grown. Wow. Anyways, please drop us a review, tell us what you think. And if you have any new questions about what's going to happen next or anything at all, just let us know.

Props to all the reviewers from the last chapter! You guys are the shit!

Love!


	29. Reconcile Me

Disclaimer: I'm pretty positive we are not the owners of this stuff. I'd never complete a book if that was the case.

Baby Blue's Author's Note: So, what's going on guys? (dodges the projectiles sent her way) Yeah, I'm a pretty terrible person I understand that. It's been quite a while, has it not? Anyways, I'm sorry and I will definitely try not to let it happen again. Kudos to Amulet Girl for helping me through this and making me write!

So review and let us know what you think please! We'll keep you updated if you leave a signed review and need a question answered or anything. Thanks!

* * *

"_Reconcile Me"_

_Alexa's Point of View_

Victory was sweet. The phrase had never been more correctly used as I walked around the library Wednesday afternoon. I had been waiting for the last few classes of the day to finish up while I sat in the Common Room during my free period. James had been moping about something or another regarding Quidditch; and having been with the boy all day, I decided that I needed a break. So I had strolled on down to the library.

It was mostly deserted as I walked through the doors. Giving a short nod to Madame Pince, I went to the far back corner of the room near the Restricted Section. Earlier in Defense against the Dark Arts, we had been uselessly taking notes when I came up with the idea. So I asked around, casually of course, and found out the spell that I would need to enter the section of the library that was largely off limits.

Making sure no one was around; I pulled out my wand before tapping the top window pane of the door to the forbidden room. Who was I to know that you actually had to be a prefect to get in this part of the library? It's not like I spent a lot of time in here. That's probably why my grades weren't the best, but I chose to bullshit my way through papers or just have someone fetch the book for me. It's also probably why I get weird looks from Madame Pince every time I come in here.

Anyways, so I tapped the top pane and whispered, "_Dissendium_." The pane basically leapt aside, and while the pane waited patiently on the inside, I snaked my hand through the space and twisted the doorknob from the other side. When the door creaked open very loudly as if to announce my arrival, I flinched with my hand caught on the other side. After I was positive no one was going to come ninja me from the shadows, I pulled my hand back through and slipped inside.

The pane of the window jumped back into place, sealing me away from the outside world. After the door was firmly shut, I looked around the area slowly. A certain chill had entered the area but I shook it off as I made my way down the aisles of books. What I was looking for was a particular section, titled Human Anatomy. It promised to have all things good in the section of babies, baby making, and how to tell if you're pregnant. Besides, all the other books we had looked at before had only served to discuss the baby, not the mother. And as much as I wanted it to happen, Lyla did not want to have a Cyclops baby.

Taking another look behind me, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched. As I was rounding a corner, however, I ran straight into something cold, wet, and feeling of death. "Fucking crap," I yelled out as I stepped back from the ghost I had just run through. Pulling a hand through my hair, I tried to rid myself of the ghostly remnants while looking up at the ethereal being.

It was just now starting to reform, and from what I could tell it was the Bloody Baron. "What the hell, Baron? Why are you in the freaking library?" I asked in an annoyed voice while looking around the shelves to make sure no one had heard me and was lurking around. "And why are you following me?"

Peering down at me, the Baron raised a ghostly eyebrow. Great. Now he was mocking me because he could raise an eyebrow like I had always wanted to do. Bloody ghost; literally and figuratively, I guess. "I seem to have lost my horse and figured that the library shelves would be a wonderful spot to ambush him should he coming running by here. The better question is what are you doing in this section whilst you are not a prefect nor do you carry a permission note?"

"I am not having this conversation with a ghost. Just mind your own business. Please, just try to stay out of my way before I get anymore of your ghostly guts in my hair." Shivering, I edged past the ghost and down a few more shelves. He was, however, keeping time with me as he floated above my head and the shelves. He would clearly be able to be seen up there and I winced when thinking what Madame Pince would do if she found me in the beloved Restricted section. "Could you at least get down from there? You're going to give away my position."

Regarding me coolly, the ghost fluttered to the ground before floating backwards in front of me. "Students these days have no regards to respecting the dead. Who is your Head of House, young mistress? I would like to report the misconduct of a student!" He raised his voice with an evil smile. There was movement from somewhere inside the library causing me to dive behind a shelf in order to hide myself.

"What do you want?" I asked while peeking out from behind the over that the shelf provided. No one was in the brightly lit room of the restricted section, and from what I could tell; there were no shadows around either. "Is must be gossip; you ghosts are more catty than the girls in fifth year."

He seemed to take pride in this accusation and he rose up a few feet in the air. "I would in fact like to know what was going on between Hogwarts' newest professional and the sixth year Lyla Parker." I let my head hit the back of the shelf of books. Did everyone in the whole bloody castle have nothing better to talk about?

"Nothing is happening between them, Baron. I know this for a fact; because she is my sister so just float on if that's all you wanted." I snapped at him. He looked offended before peering closely at me.

"You're Alexa Parker? What, my dear, may I ask are you doing in the library? There were tales of your being deathly allergic to school work." He laughed loudly in a strange cackle that was answered by some type of whine from a few shelves over. "My beloved steed!" The shout was all I heard before he disappeared through a shelf.

I was still pouting as I came upon the shelf I wanted. "Even the ghosts think I'm a bad student." I muttered while I climbed onto a ladder that was hooked onto the top of the shelf. "B is for baby; P is for pregnancy. " I continued to argue with myself. Sliding down to the P's, I grabbed the first two books I could find on pregnancy. Then I slid back to the B's and got a few more.

Gathering the books in my arms, I hopped down from the ladder and made my way quickly from the deep catacombs of the library. The door was unlocked as I went through it, and I made a mental note to make sure I locked it back next time I came in here. Not that I would need books from the restricted section anytime soon. I nodded to a few people as I tried to be inconspicuous while I made my way to Madame Pince's desk.

Slamming the books down on accident, Madame Pince looked up when she heard the loud noise. Once again, she looked surprised to see me. "Miss Parker." She said in a clipped tone when she noticed the books I had laid out were in a haphazard condition.

"Is it such a rarity that I would be in the library by myself? Perhaps I needed something."

"Well, of course. What can I do for you?" The older woman asked through raised eyebrows. Frowning, I motioned to the books lying before her.

"I'd like to check these books out for studious purposes." I stated. She looked at me as if I was kidding her, and then began to check the book titles. Her eyebrows rose even higher on her forehead before she frowned deeply. The lines on her forehead began to crease deeper and deeper as she continued to read.

"May I inquire as to what you need these books for? I haven't had a student check these out in almost ten years." My own eyes widened as I looked at the dusty books. Shit; what kind of magic had I checked into? Was it forbidden to learn a pregnancy spell? Shaking my head to rid myself of the stupid thoughts running through my head, I searched my lies diligently to see what I could use.

I smiled to reassure her while gesturing around grandly. "Well, I am doing this project in Muggle studies about the way Muggles learn about science in school." I lied soundly. Hell, I didn't even take Muggle studies. "In the section we're doing now, we're learning about human anatomy and the fact that our bodies go through vast changes when they grow during pregnancy. Did you know that some of your organs shrink to half their size due to the baby's head pushing everything out of the way? It's like they're swimming around inside of you."

My smile grew even wider, and probably even creepier, while Madame Pince looked ready to expel her last meal. "Yes, well, that's simply fascinating. Have the books back by Monday, alright dear?" She said while handing me the moldy books and waving her wand over her ledger. Just to test the old woman, I stuck around for a moment.

"Are you sure you don't want to hear about the wonders of baby tails and Cyclops babies?" I asked in an overtly excited voice. If possible, her pale complexion became even pastier. "Well, okay! See you later, Madame Pince." I blurted out before I burst into laughter and skipped out of the library. She couldn't even compose herself enough to yell at me for running out of the library or yelling.

Like I had told myself before; victory was sweet. That was, however, until I ran into someone for the second time today. Unlike the first time, which had only happened a few minutes ago, I reminded myself, this body was definitely still alive. As my books scattered all over the floor, I brushed my bangs out of my eyes to see someone bend over to help me.

"You gypsy," I said when I recognized the gray eyes staring back at me with silent mirth. Holding my books in his hands, Sirius stood in front of me with his patented 'I'm super awesome' smirk plastered on his face. "Is it your goal to continuously bash me to the floor? Can you not wait to get this," I gestured to my body, "That you have to mow me down in corridors?"

Laughing, he extended a hand to help me off the floor. I gladly accepted and when he pulled me up, I held onto his hand as we walked. "I was actually looking for you when you came and mowed me down. And I believe you're the one who can't keep their hands off me." He smirked again, the dimples in his cheeks being revealed.

"Sure, sure. That's what you always say. How'd you know where to find me anyways?" I questioned as we turned another corner. The Bloody Baron was up ahead on his 'trusted steed,' and he tipped his hat at me gallantly as he watched us walk by. "Bloody ghost," I muttered, eliciting another bark-like laugh from Sirius.

"Well, class ended and I was making my way to the Common Room when James jumped out from the shadows at me. He's been freaking out about the upcoming match against Hufflepuff lately, even though it's like two weeks away, so I was kind of expecting him. But I digress; he told me if I was looking for you, resistance was futile. And then he mentioned the library and basically mauled Marlene as she walked into the Common Room."

I nodded my head. "He has been a bit sketchy lately. Probably because he should be able to play again soon and he doesn't want to kick my sweet skill off the team." I shrugged with a smirk.

"That's it exactly, Alex. How did you know?" Sirius asked in a semi-sarcastic way. Elbowing him in the stomach, I broke free from his side and walked in front of him. "You know you're just jealous. And what exactly were you doing in the library anyways? Checking out books seems a bit crazy even for you."

Remembering the books, I turned quickly and tried to snatch them from his hands. He was too quick, though, and held them above his head as I stood in front of him. About a foot too short; even if I jumped it was pointless.

Smiling serenely, I fluttered my eyelashes at him cursing the fact that I hadn't put on make-up today. Mascara was always an effective method on stubborn boys. "Bestest boyfriend in the whole-wide world, could I please have my lovely little library books back?" He seemed to think about it for a moment before smiling back at me.

"I don't think I'm in the mood to fall for your charm today." He said in the same sickly sweet voice. I stopped my fluttering, probably looking like I was going to have a seizure more than cute, and pouted. He groaned before closing his eyes. "The pout isn't going to work either."

It was time to pull out my final weapon. If this didn't work, Sirius was going to see the book titles and I was going to be screwed. Grabbing his belt buckle, I pulled myself up to his face. "Sirius," I asked him and he cleared his throat. "May I please have my books back?" Lowering his hands, I took the heavy books after placing a quick kiss on his lips.

"And you called me the gypsy." He said while pulling me in for another kiss. This one much longer and much more mind-blowing than the first. After a minute, we were separated as someone cleared their throat from behind Sirius.

I looked around Sirius, who was muttering about never being alone, to see Lyla and Blair standing outside the entrance to the Common Room. "If it's all the same to you, we'd like to be able to enter and leave without having to see you two exchange tongues." Smiling sheepishly, I pulled out of Sirius's hold and then dragged Blair and Lyla with me.

"Just the people I wanted to see." I said while Sirius yelled that he wasn't finished yet. Holding the books out in my hand, I looked victoriously between my two friends. Both of their eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and suddenly I felt as if I had done something wrong. "Guys? Everything alright?"

Lyla looked around frantically, while dragging us away from the Common Room entrance. "Alexa, I can't believe you had the nerve to check those books out! What if someone saw you? What if they begin to ask questions? What if," She went to continue but I held up a hand to stop her,

"Lyla, stop fronting. No one saw, and the only one that could have would have been the Bloody Baron, Madame Pince, the Bloody Baron's horse, and Sirius." I rolled my eyes like it was no big deal while her eyes got even bigger.

"Madame Pince?!" Lyla screamed.

"You showed Sirius?!" Blair yelled out next.

"Damn girl." I said while rubbing my ear drums. "Listen, Sirius picked the books up off the floor but didn't see the titles. Madame Pince had to know because she was in the freaking library and you kind of have to check the books out. Seeing as it's her job she had to mark them down. Plus, I made up some sweet lie about how I would be using it for Muggle studies and by the time I was finished she didn't want to hear anything else."

Feeling proud of myself, Lyla put a hole in my pride again. "You don't even take Muggle studies." She annunciated each word, acting as if I didn't comprehend what classes I did and did not take.

"I know that, idiot. But Madame Pince doesn't." Blair shrugged as if to say, 'what can you do,' but Lyla didn't look convinced. "No one is any wiser on this situation than we are, okay? So stop worrying. We're golden."

"Yes, well we won't be for long if we don't get out of the corridor." Blair muttered and we all looked around the empty space. Frowning, she took off for the seventh floor of the castle leaving Lyla and I to follow in her wake. When we made it to the wall where the Room of Requirements would be, Lyla took charge and began to pace back and forth before the wall.

Finally, a door appeared and the three of us stepped through it. "Lyla, really?" I asked as I looked around the room. It had three chairs around a table, a fire, and no windows. It was about as dark as her mood at the current time.

"Would you rather I just turn it into a bedroom for you and Sirius after we're done?" She snapped and I was a bit taken aback. She never yelled at me like that. Lyla always had her temper under control. I could feel my own temper rising in response to the shock of her yelling at me.

"I'm sorry that you might be pregnant and that Remus is pissed at you, but my business is my business. Just because Sirius and I are responsible," I started off. Soon, however, Lyla had cut me off with a laugh.

"Sirius? You? Responsible? I beg to differ." She crossed her arms over her chest and cocked her hip into her mom stance while looking at me with challenge in her eyes. I opened my mouth to retort, but Blair stepped between the two of us.

"We don't need you two fighting over stupid things right now. There are more important things than sibling squabbles. Or did we all just conveniently forget that there may be a baby inside Lyla and we have no idea how to find out?"

I took my seat at the table, pulling out a chair roughly and then falling into the cushion. Blair took the seat across from me, while Lyla stood facing the door as if she wanted to bolt. When she turned around to look at us, her face was composed and she sat down at the table while pulling a book towards her. Blair and I followed her lead by taking the other two remaining books and beginning to leaf through them.

Recognizing that I had gotten stuck with one of the baby books, I began to peruse for pictures of pregnant women. I couldn't help my wince as I thought of my stomach becoming that bulbous. Sneaking a glance at Lyla, it was easy to see that her stomach was just as flat as ever. Trying to imagine her stomach like that, I looked down to see what month of gestation the picture from. My eyes bulged out of my head while I read the caption.

_During the second trimester, the baby begins to develop facial features and response to outside stimuli. Woman at left (top) is six months along._

"What is it?" I turned my attention back to Blair who was looking at me from over the top of her book. I slapped the cover closed quickly so the picture would be buried. No one, including Lyla, needed to see the possibilities of what she could become at six months pregnant.

Shaking my head, I smiled falsely which I'm sure they caught. "Nothing; there's really nothing relevant to the spell in this book. Do either of you have the second book on pregnancy?" I asked while Lyla dropped her book and sighed.

"This is pointless. I doubt I'm even," She paused before saying the word. Then she moved on, as if saying the word might make this situation even more serious. "I don't even need to take the test. We should just take these books back to the library before Madame Pince checks up on your story."

"Lyls," I said while putting my hand on her own. Yes, she had been mean to me earlier, but she was going through more than I could imagine right now. "My story is going to be legit, so don't worry about that. Now, sit down and let Blair and I do the work. You need to take the test if only to clear your mind of all the drama this would cause."

As Lyla was sitting back down, Blair slammed her book down and pointed her finger to a word. "I found it." She whispered while motioning to the diagram of a woman doing the spell. Our heads turned towards my sister, who had become about two shades paler in a span of seconds.

"I think I'm going to pass out," She whispered while scooting her chair out and putting her head between her legs. I jumped up automatically and knelt down next to my sister while running a hand over her back. She started to shake with silent tears and I held onto her while she cried.

"We could wait," Blair offered up with a false hope in her eyes. "It's not like the spell is going anywhere and there really isn't a rush if you think about it."

I continued to rub Lyla's back as she cried a bit harder at the mention of the spell. When she looked up, her face was tear-streaked, little black smudges set under her lashes from her make-up. Her eyes were still watering and spilling over, but she shook her head violently. "I need to know the outcome of this, no matter what. Could one of you try on yourselves first?"

I exchanged a glance with Blair before picking up the book and looking at the diagram. While swirling my wand around my midriff like the woman in the picture, I said the spell. "_Scoprire gravidanza," _There was a weird feeling like my insides were extremely hollow and then my stomach felt hot. Lifting my shirt, I saw that there was a bluish light coming from my abdominal area. Checking the book, Blair looked at me and smiled.

"Not pregnant; which was to be expected." She performed the same sequence of events on herself with the same result. Lyla seemed to get more anxious as Blair pulled her shirt back down and held her wand loosely in her hand. "Lyls, can you do it?"

With a shaking sigh, Lyla rose from her seat and then looked down at the spell book and the woman on the page. The pregnant woman in the picture looked happy, excited, like she couldn't wait to be pregnant. She also wasn't just sixteen years old with a year and a half of schooling left and her whole life before her. Not to mention she probably had a husband that she wasn't fighting with and whom she was ready to have kids with.

Lyla said the spell and we wait within the short period of time for her to get the results. As her eyes widened, she reached down and lifter her shirt up. We all gasped while staring at her glowing stomach. "Oh, my god." She whispered.

It was blue.

She wasn't pregnant.

I sank into my chair, relief basically spreading through my body like a drug, while Blair started to cry and Lyla sat in her seat in shock. I watched my sister close her eyes and smile while tears leaked through her eyes. It was a false alarm. She wasn't pregnant. The relief in the room was palpable as we sat with our thoughts for a moment before saying anything.

"I need a drink," I said and before me appeared a shot glass and a bottle of Firewhiskey. I thanked the room mentally while pouring myself, Blair, and Lyla a drink. "Thank god," I said as I downed the shot. Blair muttered the same and followed my lead, while Lyla just looked at it.

"I can't drink anything right now," She said while she was still processing the information. Looking up quickly, Lyla reached over and slammed the book shut; the spell and diagram disappearing amongst the hundreds of other musty pages. Then she looked at us each with an unwavering gleam in her eyes. "We never mention this to anyone, understood? Not Sirius, not James, and under no circumstances do we tell Remus."

"I agree." I told her and then vanished the books to my trunk with my wand. Thank god for having a good Transfiguration tutor again. I had finally mastered the vanishing and appearing spells. This was like fifth year stuff but whatever.

"I'll never breathe a word," Blair swore. We each stood from the table, and took turns doing our standard wrist grasp and turn. It was like our own unbreakable vow without the spell. Before we left the room, we gave each other a swift, tight group hug and then wiped our eyes. I hadn't noticed earlier but we had all been so caught up in the moment that we had cried with relief. We opened the door and stepped outside holding hands while making our way to dinner.

* * *

"Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine," James said as I walked into double Potions class the next day. I made a face and looked at my friend as Blair rolled her eyes and thwacked him on the head. Searching the room for my lab partners, I turned my attention back towards James and Blair.

"What's he on this morning, Blair? Uppers; downers; a combination of the two?" I looked back over to James who was twirling his wand around in his fingers, making the stick of wood shoot out red sparks every now and then. He gave me a wicked grin, and then as if he wasn't paying attention at all, shot a spell that sent Lily Evans' skirt flying as she sat down. Covertly, and through a smile of her own, Blair reacted by slipping her foot under James's chair and sending him to the floor.

When he looked up, she giggled behind her hand and then shrugged. Turning back to me, she answered my previous question. "He found my notebook full of Casablanca quotes in my room and has taken it upon himself to fit them into daily conversation where it is not only unsociably acceptable, but not befitting of the situation."

"You know that that quote fit perfectly. You're just mad that you didn't think of that one first." James said, now off the ground and sitting back upright in his chair. After running a hand through his perfectly crazy hair, he put an arm around Blair's back. Then he turned his overtly happy attention on me. "Besides, Sirius is looking for you and he doesn't seem too happy. So this quote next quote is going to fit perfectly."

Rolling my eyes, I looked towards the back of the classroom where Sirius had just walked in and caught his seat as Lyla pulled it out for him. My sister looked, well, there wasn't really a word for it. I'd either say exhausted, relieved, and just overwhelmingly sad. It hurt my heart to see her like this, but I had the feeling that with the Baby gate drama being over she would be able to focus back on her relationship with Remus.

Directing my attention back to James, I asked him, "And what quote would that be?" Together we turned towards his best friend, who looked over at the same time. My eyes widened when I took in the dark gray irises of my boyfriend. James had been right before; he didn't look too happy. It also seemed that, unfortunately, that anger or whatever it was happened to be aimed towards me.

I felt a comforting hand on my wrist as Slughorn came in and called the class to order. "Here's looking at you kid," James whispered as I gathered my bag up on my shoulder and walked to the back to take my seat. When I took my seat between Lyla and Sirius, Lyla had already started to take notes while Sirius sat back in his seat with his arms crossed staring at me unnervingly.

When I finally caught his eyes, he whispered from the side of his mouth, "We need to talk," and my heart went into overdrive. If he was going to break up with me right here, in this Potion's classroom while Slughorn was going on about Bee whore's or whatever it was, I was going to get up and shove a cauldron down his stupid throat. Especially after we had just had sex and for once the drama wasn't on us.

Biting my lip, I nodded and instead of reaching for his hand and playing footsie for the whole class period, I got out a piece of paper, my quill, and began to write. Granted what I was writing had nothing to do with the class and everything to do with my best friend that was sitting across the room from me, but at least if Slughorn asked it looked like I was doing something.

Note days in class were so pointless to me. It was like half of the people with brains had checked their cognitive reasoning at the door and had decided to conk out. And the lessons were always so heavily weighed down with the name dropping that Slughorn did that they were basically pointless until we got to the practical uses of whatever potion we were supposed to be brewing that week.

Biting the tip of my green pen, I put the pointed end to the yellowed and crinkled paper that we had modified to allow us to write notes that would travel onto the recipients' specialized parchment. Actually, we had to give James and Sirius the credit for this one. Those boys were just too smart.

_Blair, I need you to do some scouting, or just ask James, and figure out why Sirius thinks that we 'need to talk.'_

Less than three seconds later, the hot pink lettering of Blair's perfect script was appearing on the paper as Slughorn went on with the magical properties of the sweet-grass root. And not the kind that people were so keen on smoking.

**If he said he needed to talk to you it could be about the rumor that's been circulating about you since you strolled into the library yesterday afternoon. James said he overheard some people talking.**

Snorting out loud, I huffed and almost threw down my pen in frustration but then couldn't come up with a good enough excuse to tell Slugs if I did, so I just took a breath and began to write back.

_Can people just get over the fact that I was at the library? Occasionally, yes, I do like to read and do a bit of studying. Otherwise I wouldn't be passing my classes. And unlike my dear sister, I can't just sleep with the professor. J  
_

If you're going to write these notes, Alexa, then you need to make sure to leave me out of it. Especially because you know that I never have and never will sleep with a professor. Isn't that your fantasy anyways?

**Uhm, I think this goes without saying, Alex, but you just got burned by a well placed teacher/student fantasy. How does that feel?**

_I have to say that I am honored to have been served such a sweet dish of ass kicking. BUT back to the original topic; what the hell is this rumor going on about me? I already disproved the one that said I couldn't read or that Sirius and I just go in there to consecrate the Restricted Section. _

**Oh! I hadn't heard that one. Give me a second and I'll get the Intel off James.**

Huh, the one about the not being able to read thing was started by Remus and I. Just to let you know. 

Opening my mouth in disbelief, I looked over at Lyla and gave her a 'what the hell' look. She shrugged and then went back to taking actual notes while pointing back to the table where Blair was writing more in her dark bold print.

**Well, as unhelpful as my thickheaded boyfriend can be at times, he said there were some rumors going around about you and Sirius and a little Sirius.**

_How would people know about Little Sirius? We decided to leave him at home with mum and dad._ I wrote, really confused as to what was going on. It was Lyla next to me who started to practically hyperventilate at the thought.

Not in that way, Alexa; they think that you're….up the duff so to speak.

Widening my eyes and looking at what she had just printed once, twice, and a third time, I looked swiftly to Sirius who was staring at my stomach covertly. Whipping my head back around to look at Lyla, then across the room to Blair, I put my pen to my paper and wrote as quickly as I possibly could.

_No, no, no. That's completely off base. It was Lyla that was pregnant! I was just doing a good deed for my sister. This is going to ruin everything. And I'll kill the Bloody Barron twice if he's the one that started the damn rumor. Him and his stupid ass ghost horse! Who was it, Blair? And don't play coy and act like you don't know! What are we going to do about this?_

**Alexa. Deep breath. In and out. Now, listen, I'm not sure who started the rumor and if it was the Bloody Barron then I'll help you because he's just a pervy old ghost, but before you freak out about that you need to stop and think. Isn't it better that people think that it's you that is pregnant and not Lyla? Then they won't be spreading rumors about her and Professor Wolfe and she can get back on the right track with Remus!**

_But what about Sirius and I? Am I just supposed to write our relationship off as collateral damage to the cause? I love you to death, Lyla, but I'm not sure if I can do that unless I know you're going to man up and go balls out with Remus._

I'm rolling my eyes at you. And I'm not going to ask you to do that, Alex. Just think rationally for a moment and stop breathing like that or Sirius is going to think you're dying. We just need to explain to Sirius that this was all just a huge misunderstanding. That you checked out those books for Muggle Studies and some bitchy girl _or ghost_ yes, or ghost, is just trying to screw your relationship over. Stick to the original story and whatever you do, don't tell him the books were for ME!

**And don't act like a complete fool when you do so because it's obvious when you lie. Okay?**

_If he doesn't kill me first then I'll stick with the plan. Let's pray that I live to be seventeen girls._

_**Well, we'll always have Paris. - James**_

**I'm going to kill someone.**

Trying not to be too concerned with the fact that James may have read more than half of our conversation, I stowed my paper and quill in my bag and looked over to Sirius who was leaning back in his chair and watching Slughorn sit at his desk. Manning up, I took a deep breath and put my hand on Sirius's arm. His gaze turned down towards me, and I motioned him to lean forward which he did.

"Can you cause enough of a distraction to get us out of the classroom now? I think I know what's going on and I'd really rather settle it now instead of leaving it until later." I whispered quickly as Slughorn turned towards his multiple chalkboards to write down a few more notes. Catching my gaze and staring silently with his mouth shut, Sirius nodded once before looking over to James.

As if he had felt his stare on his back, James turned around to look at Sirius who mouthed something which caused his eyes to light up. Shaking his head vigorously, he reached down and rustled around in his bag before grabbing something dark and small. Rolling it out on the floor, James sat properly in his chair while folding his hands over his lap. I watched in slight horror as the ball on the floor continued to spin, faster and faster, until suddenly the room went dark in a puff of black smoke.

Someone's hand connected against my wrist and I found myself being pulled out of the classroom while Slughorn yelled at everyone to remain calm until the smoke cleared. Finally, once we were out of the darkness and into the damp dungeons, Sirius dropped my wrist and continued to walk. I stalled for a moment before following him through the winding corridors, deeper into the castle than I had been before.

"Sirius, please wait." I said timidly and as he stopped, I walked a little faster to catch up with him. When I was right behind him, I stared up at the back of his head while trying to summon what little courage I had. "Listen, I know you're upset, but some silly little rumor shouldn't affect our relationship."

Turning around, he looked down at me while folding his arms. "I shouldn't have to find out about something this major through a rumor." He said darkly and I had to fight extremely hard not to roll my eyes. Grabbing his hand, I placed it on my stomach and held it there firmly while he stared.

"We just had sex. My stomach is still flat. We used protection. There is no way in hell that I could possibly be pregnant right now." Removing my hand from his own, I let him realize that what I had said was true while he closed his eyes. When he opened them, they were much lighter and held an apology instead of anger.

"So, I can be a real idiot sometimes." Using the hand that was covering my stomach to wrap around my waist, he pulled me closer to him. Leaning down, he brought his lips to hover over my own while I put my hands on his shoulder. "But I hope that you can forgive me." He continued, his lips brushing against mine as he spoke.

"I love being the one to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket." I let him know as I closed the space between us. It took only a moment for me to realize that this had been easier than I had originally thought possible. Smiling, I pulled back from Sirius and wrapped my arms around his toned stomach to hold onto him tightly. If I could just distract him for long enough, he would forget all about those…

"What exactly did you need those books for, anyways?" He asked while we stood holding onto each other in the middle of some abandoned corridor in the darkness of the dungeons. Closing my eyes, I spoke into the fabric of his school sweater vest.

"Well, I had a project in Muggle Studies that I had to work out. It was about the dangers of pregnancy on the body and how muggles deal with it. You know; just the usual school stuff." Trying to make it into not that big of a deal, I tugged on Sirius's tie, trying to get him to focus his attention on something other than this topic.

Looking down on me, Sirius raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Oh, and what period do you take Muggle Studies?" He asked in a curious way and I started to panic a bit more.

"Well, Mondays and Wednesdays I have it during," Thinking hard, I tried to remember what his own schedule looked like. "Just during the day, in the afternoon." I was grasping at straws, but trying to recover as I smiled winningly. "Let's just forget about this though; I'm thinking of a better way to spend our time."

Smirking again, Sirius let me drag him along until we reached the double turn. Then we stopped again and he laughed. "Alexa, love, you don't take Muggle studies."

"Yes," I insisted, "I do."

"No," He argued, "You don't. I take Muggle Studies; during the afternoon on Mondays and Wednesdays."

Feeling my mouth dry up, I turned to my smirking boyfriend and looked up slowly. "Are you sure? Because I sit in the back and it wouldn't be that hard to actually miss me. Plus, I leave early some days and I'm sure that you skip that period occasionally to do stuff and," I continued to ramble, my mouth getting ahead of my brain and only stopped when Sirius put a finger to my lips.

"You have every class with James on those two days. Don't try to argue because I know. And second off, you just described me when you talked about that class." If possible, my face turned even more scarlet than it already was. Putting my head on his chest with a groan, I tried to suffocate myself in the soft fabric of his sweater.

"You stalker." I mumbled, and he laughed while putting his arms around me. "So you caught me. I checked out the books, yes, but not for myself and not for Muggle Studies."

"Then who'd you check them out for, if it wasn't for you?" Sirius asked, clarifying the fact that it definitely wasn't for me. I sucked in a breath, trying to think about what to say and how to get out of answering this question. Then I opened my mouth and started to ramble.

"Let's see, it definitely involved the library, which explains the books. But getting there was a struggle. I think I was kidnapped by a couple of bears. That was it, yeah. And then the Bloody Baron came along and just assaulted me with these books, and I had to take them as he was throwing them at me. Then his trusted steed ran me out of the library where I met you. So all in all," I took a breath, looked up into his disbelieving eyes, and then opened my big mouth again. "I checked the books out for Lyla."

Throwing my hand up to cover my mouth as if that would help anything, I looked up to Sirius's astounded face. Bringing his face down to eye level with me, my eyes widened as I tried to convey the importance of my next statement. "You may tell absolutely no one about this, do you understand me? Absolutely. No. One."

Sirius nodded his head slowly, backing up towards the wall in the corridor to prop himself up. "I can't believe that Remus is going to be a father. He's not even seventeen." He was practically whispering and I went to stand next to him to fill him in on the whole situation.

"He's not, actually. It turns out that Lyla isn't actually pregnant." Patting him on the arm, I let him pull me down with him as he sat on the floor, his bag and my own pooling next to us. "We used a spell from one of those books to figure it out."

"And you're positive those books were legitimate, right? Because sometimes spells like those are just made up to make people feel better when they could be completely wrong."

Well, if that didn't make me feel better, I'm sure he had a bag of bricks somewhere that he could drop on me. "Actually, we know it works because Blair and I tried it out first." Sirius looked at me expectantly and I smiled. "As I said before, Mr. Black, you are not going to see any mini-me's running around any time soon. Least ways, not from me."

Rolling his eyes, he pulled himself off the ground and then extended his hand to help me up. Hugging me tightly before picking up the bags, Sirius wrapped an arm around my shoulders as he lead us back to the main corridor. "Well, love, you know that you're the only one for me and I'd surely hope there aren't any mini-me's running around. How would it look for you to be a pedophile as well as pregnant?"

"Excuse me, but I believe that you are the cradle robber, are you not? Aren't you getting ready to be legal at the end of this month? Which means that any," I paused to think about the correct words while Sirius looked down at me, "Extracurricular activities we partake in are illegal. Oh, well, it was fun while it lasted I assume."

Without warning, I was pressed against the wall in corridor. Laughing, I looked into the gray eyes of the non-father of my non-existent child. "Well then, we better get down to business now."

"Right here; in the corridor? It's a bit risky, isn't it?" I asked with mock seriousness while tugging on Sirius's tie. We both laughed and then I slipped between his arm and the wall. "I guess we'll just have to wait until later. You shouldn't have let me go." Winking, I continued to walk and Sirius groaned and followed me.

"You are such a tease," He said playfully, swatting at my ponytail as I walked.

"And you are a hormonal boy. I can't help but play to your weakness." Catching his hand, I entwined my fingers with his. We walked in a contemplative, but not uncomfortable silence, until we got to the main classrooms and I stopped him. "But really, Sirius, you can't tell anyone about what I told you."

"Not even James," He said with conviction and I nodded solemnly.

"Not even James."

* * *

After spending the day fending off angry fan girls that were moping about as if I'd killed their favorite pet, murdered their family, and then thrown all their beloved make-up off the Astronomy tower, I decided to retire to my dorm early. Flopping down on my bed, I put my hand over my eyes and sighed. It was as if suddenly the whole Lyla and Professor Wolfe being friends thing had blown over and now the other Parker sister was being thrown into the spotlight. And it was a type of spotlight that I didn't want.

Had it not been for Lyla, Blair, and Sirius intervening throughout the day, I probably would have killed more than one person. The stupid side comments, people staring none too politely at my stomach, and the crying fan girls had been just about too much for me to handle. Rolling onto my stomach and pushing my face into the pillow, I heard the door open as my roommates walked in. As the bed shifted, Blair's perfume wafted around the closed area that my bed and curtains encased.

"Well, I think that we can give you a gold star for effort, but we may have to deduct a few points on form after you practically bit that girl in the Common Room." Blair commentated as I let out a groan and rolled back onto my back.

Looking at Blair, I frowned and narrowed my eyes. "She accused me of locking Sirius into an abusive relationship. I have apparently become pregnant with his spawn just to make sure he never leaves me for someone 'of a higher caliber.' That girl deserved it." I huffed while the toilet flushed from the bathroom and Lyla came out.

Smiling for once, she went over to her dresser to get her pajamas. "If you had to admit though, it was pretty hilarious, don't you think?"

"Maybe for about two seconds. It gets old having to restrain myself from launching something across the room. I was allowed one breakdown, right?" I asked facetiously, not expecting a reply but getting one anyways from my brunette friend who was still sitting on the end of my bed.

"Yes, well, perhaps you should have thought about that before you went and shackled Sirius to the bed." With a lewd wink, she hopped off my bed and went to get her own sleep attire.

Letting out an 'ew' and rolling off my bed as well, I went into the bathroom with my friends and turned on the water to get it hot. "We are so not into the kinky stuff. It would mess up Sirius's hair." I told her before sliding a band into my hair to push it off my face. The blonde ponytail hung straight, not long enough to reach my shoulder blades anymore and I shook my head a little to watch it move back and forth. It was still weird having shorter blonde hair.

As Blair covered her face in a sticky goo that was supposedly good for reducing pore size, Lyla spit into one of the sinks as she brushed her teeth. She caught my attention as she rinsed her mouth and then stuck her tongue out at me. "I'm really grateful that you are letting people think that you're the one with a baby instead of letting people know about my pregnancy scare." Putting her toothbrush back in the holder, Lyla tried to shake off the shivers that came down her arms as she said the words out loud.

"I'm an equal opportunist, Lyls. Once you and Remus make up, though, I will be expecting retribution." We smiled at each other through the mirror and I commenced washing my face. After rinsing my face and then patting it off, I reached for my toothbrush and had just began to give myself rabies by using too much toothpaste and scrubbing viciously when the blue-faced Blair screamed.

Whipping around, I stabbed the toothbrush into my cheek while I looked at my friend. It was hard to take her seriously with the mud-mask on her face, but her eyes were wide and her mouth was open. "What is it, Blair?" Lyla asked while rubbing abandoning rubbing in her moisturizer. It left white streaks over her face and I almost laughed until Blair started to talk in the fast way she did when she was excited, scared, or just had something to say.

"Tonight's the full moon. You won't get to make up with Remus in the morning because he'll be too sick. And James and Sirius are going to be out there with him tonight. I remember James saying something about how it's always bad if Remus is stressed or if something has been happening." She paused and looked at us. As foam dripped a bit on my hand from the toothbrush hanging out of my mouth, I let what she was saying sink in.

"I didn't tell Sirius good luck. Hell, I completely forgot about this. I was just so caught up in myself and my problems that I forgot." I said through my mouthful. Spitting into the sink, I rinsed my mouth out and hung my toothbrush back up.

It was Lyla that I was most worried about as she sat on the edge of the sink and put her head in her hands. "The last time Remus and I really talked I told him I didn't care what he did. That if he didn't trust me then he could go and leave and I wouldn't care; I was scared and confused and he thought Luke was more to me than what he really is," She removed her hands and looked at us through bleary eyes. "What if something bad happens to him and the last thing I said was that I didn't care?"

Wrapping my arms around my sister, I let her put her head on my shoulder. "The boys will keep him safe, Lyls. They won't let anything happen to him and when this is all over tomorrow you can see him in the Hospital Wing."

"But what if they can't control him? What if they get hurt? James said that he gets worse when he's stressed. Well, I've caused him a lot of stress lately. And this is my entire fault!" Jumping out of my arms and of the sink, Lyla wrapped her robe tighter around her and slid her feet into her slippers while rubbing in the left over moisturizer on her face.

As she left the bathroom, Blair and I followed quickly on her heels. "Where are you going, Lyla?" Blair asked while Lyla reached the door to the dorm. Lyla turned quickly and looked at us with a determined look in her eyes. "I'm going to meet him before he leaves." She said simply and then walked out the door. Blair and I looked at each other before I slid my feet into my own slippers and grabbed a dark green jumper that was most likely Sirius's to put on over my sweat pants.

Running after my sister, I jumped down a few stairs to find the Common Room eerily empty. With no one around, the Boys dorm was the next logical place so I headed up the stairs. When I reached the sixth year dorms, however, no one was inside except for Lyla.

There was pounding on the stairs behind me and I looked towards the door hopefully, but it was only Blair who came skidding to a stop, her hair still piled in a mismatched bun on top of her head, the mud having been hastily removed but some still on the sides of her cheeks.

"They're gone?" She asked with a huff. Nodding, I went and sat down on Sirius's bed, pulling the mirror off the side table and praying that James had his matching pair.

"Marauder's secret," I told my friends as they crowded around me on the bed. "James Potter." I said firmly and there was noise on the other side before James face came into view.

"Alexa? What are you doing with Sirius's mirror?" He asked bewildered as I heard Sirius's voice in the background asking why James was checking his reflection. The mirror shook for a minute and then both boys filled the small reflective surface.

"Ladies; any particular reason you have decided to grace our dorm with your presence while we are not there?" Sirius asked smiling and raising an eyebrow at us. My breath came easier as I saw that the two boys were safe, but I was still a bit worried as they were moving and appeared to be outside.

"James Potter this is not funny." Blair cried slightly as James pretended to check his hair. "Why did you let me forget that it was a full moon tonight? You were just going to sneak out and when you weren't around tomorrow I was going to freak out."

"Bear, I didn't know that you had forgotten," James said in an apologetic, low voice that melted Blair's heart.

"You didn't even let me say goodbye. What if something were to happen to you?" She asked while grabbing the mirror from my hand to hold it closer. Fake retching noises came from the side and then Sirius was back on the screen before it could get sappy again.

"Alexa, we'll be back tomorrow morning early. You're welcome to stay in our dorm, but I'm going to need you to put Lyla on." I took the mirror back from Blair and looked one more time at Sirius while handing the mirror over to Lyla.

"Promise me that he'll be okay," She demanded while gripping the mirror as if it was going to spring from her grasp. "You need to let him know that I love him and that I'm sorry and that he has to come back in one piece. Promise me, Sirius."

Running a hand through his wind-tousled hair, Sirius nodded as the wind howled and the moon's reflection shined on behind Sirius "We won't let anyone get hurt tonight. It's just going to be a routine night. We'll be back before you know it. And you know that he loves you too, right Lyls?" Sirius asked while giving her a small smile as Lyla nodded tightly and tried to hold back her tears.

"Come on, Pads. The passageways open." James's voice came from somewhere behind Sirius and Sirius nodded.

"Well, ladies, we'll see you soon. Alex, I love you." I blushed and then rolled my eyes while he continued to talk. "Oh, and Lyla and Blair, you know I love you all too. Just don't spread that around."

"Padfoot!"

"Right. Bye!" Sirius said and we called out our last farewells. As the screen went back to being a normal reflective surface again, we sat in silence for a few moments. It was odd to be in this dorm without the presence of one of the guys and I closed my eyes as worry for Sirius, for James, for Peter, and especially for Remus, took over. They were going out into the freezing night air, even though it was the beginning of March, to run around as animals with a werewolf. Even though I knew they did this once a month since fifth year, it still worried me. They had come back last time bruised and worse for the wear.

"At least this time Madame Pomfrey is around, right? And she's loads better at fixing people up than we are. Plus, they've run around and done this before so she knows how to handle it." Blair convinced herself and Lyla made a noise of assent before getting up and going over to Remus's bed. She ran a hand over his pillow, smoothing it out before pausing. When she turned back towards us, she nodded firmly, putting her hands on her hips.

"When this is all over, I'm never fighting with Remus again. I don't care what it takes, but mark my words; no professor, no stupid rumors, no pregnancy scare, and no anything will ever stop me from making this work between us." She looked so determined and so sure that I couldn't do anything but agree with her. If there was one couple that could make it, that would make it, they were it. "Okay, we're sleeping here tonight. I'm assuming that James and Sirius will wake us when they get back so we'll need our sleep if we're going to do this and go to classes."

Agreeing with her, I slid into the covers of Sirius's unmade bed while Lyla folded Remus's covers back with care. Blair hopped off my borrowed bed and went over to James's slightly made/slightly thrown together bed and jumped under the covers. Breathing deeply, I inhaled the comfort of that familiar smell and then hugged the pillow tightly. If we believed everything would be okay, then it would be.

Closing my eyes, I listened as the breathing around me slowed. Turning over, it was impossible not to open my eyes and look out the window at the glaring moon. It was mocking me and I could hear Lyla sigh from across the room. "It'll be okay," I whispered into the dark. Whether she heard me or not, I wouldn't know because within the next few minutes I had closed my eyes again and fallen asleep.

"Alex," There was a slight brush on my forehead and I loosened my death grip on my pillow while turning away from the noise. "Come on, Al. Get up," Opening one eye, I saw a dark figure seated at the edge of the bed. As the figure came into focus, I realized it was Sirius. Suddenly, I was wide awake. Basically tackling him, my arms wrapped around his waist and I hugged him tightly. His rolling laughter rumbled through me as he slid into the bed next to me. Keeping my hold on him, I brushed his hair from his eyes checking his exposed skin for any injuries.

"You're fine, aren't you? James and Remus too?" I asked and he nodded while stilling my frantic touch by taking my hands into his own. Placing my head on his chest, I closed my eyes and willed myself to not cry in relief. "You actually kept your promise," I whispered in astonishment and he laughed again.

"It's rare, but sometimes I do things like that. Speaking of, Lyla is in the Hospital Wing. Remus is fine and unconscious like he usually is after this, but he'll wake up with a full memory and will be fine tomorrow. Prongs is in the bathroom being checked by Blair because apparently Poppy doesn't know what she's talking about and he could have internal bleeding. And aside from a bruised ego, Peter is soundly asleep in his bed with the curtains closed. All in all, it was a successful outing."

"And what about you," I asked while sitting up a little to hover over him. "No internal bleeding, no bruised ego; the hair is a bit mussed, but I like it this way." I said running a hand through his blown out ebony locks.

"Anything to please the missus," He said cheekily and I shook my head while laying back down and snuggling against him. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm tired and need my beauty sleep. So don't molest me during the night. It wouldn't be good form with others in the room."

"That ruins my plans then," I said in a mock sad voice. Turning my head, I gave him a small kiss on the underside of his jaw. "I'm glad your okay, Sirius." He made a 'mhm' noise and then gathered the covers around us with his eyes still closed. The door to the bathroom opened and James came out, sans shirt, grimacing slightly as he touched his side.

"You'll be fine," Blair whispered before coming up behind him and holding onto him from behind. Watching the look of stark relief on Blair's face and the loving one on James's face, I smiled to myself before closing my eyes as my friends went to sleep around me for the second time that night. Now if only Lyla and Remus could get it together, all would be right with the world.

* * *

Amuletgirl's Author's Note: Hey there all you beautiful people! Was that not just a marvelous chapter? Granted, I had to use threats to get it to you, but it is great all the same. I will work diligently on the next chapter and should get it done within the week, if school doesn't kill me first. So I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please review!

Peace and love.


	30. Fall That Never Ends

Disclaimer: Sadly we own absolutely nothing. We only own our dear Alexa and Lyla. Even though we don't own the world of Harry Potter, we sure as heck love to pretend we do. We also don't own the lyrics in the title, which are owned by the lovely Motion City Soundtrack.

Amulet Girl's AN: Hello there dear people! Sorry for the long wait but it is finally here. To be honest, the chapter has been done for some time now, but we were being a bit lazy and really didn't get around to putting it up until now. Sad, I know, but there it is. So, I hope you enjoy this chapter. There are some crazy things going on with the characters and I hope you like it. As always throw a review our way!

* * *

"_The panicked research was no help; I sink into myself afraid of the _

_Fall That Never Ends."_

_Lyla's Point of View_

"Lyla." I felt my body begin to shake and a gentle palm on my upper arm. "Lyla." The whisper came again. Somewhere in the night I had managed to fall asleep. My mind had been full of worry, regret, distress, sadness, and anger that I thought it would be impossible for me to sleep, but my tired body overpowered my overactive brain. Finally realizing that the source of the noise and shaking came not from my mind but real life, my eyes suddenly snapped open. Sirius was sitting on the edge of the bed. I blinked my swollen eyes and tried to focus my vision. "Hey," Sirius said quietly with a small weak smile. I quickly sat up realizing what Sirius being there meant. I looked around the semi-dark room and found Alexa and Blair still sound asleep, buried under the covers.

"Is everything alright? Did anything go wrong?" I asked with a nervous haste.

Sirius placed a calming hand on my shoulder. "Everything's fine," he said. "It was a pretty standard full moon, maybe a little harsher than usual, but what you said in the mirror earlier really helped." I felt my already swollen eyes fill with warm tears yet again.

"How are you, James, and Peter?" I asked, choking back the hitch in my throat. Sirius smiled slightly.

"We'll live," he said laughing. "You don't need to be worried with us right now; you need to go be with Remus." I smiled back at him and pulled him into a hug.

"Thank you so much, Sirius," I told him sincerely, holding him tighter. "Thank you for taking care of him."

"It's my pleasure," he replied. "I knew you would kill me if I didn't bring him back safe. Now get out of here and go tell Moony that you love him. Even though I'm all for a little brotherly love, me having to tell him that you love him is just a little too weird for me." I gave him one last hug and then threw back the blankets and practically flew out of the boy's dormitory.

The relatively long trek to the Hospital Wing seemed to only take a few minutes. Everything passed by in a haze. Seeing as it was in the very early hours of the morning, the corridors were empty so there was very little foot traffic to hinder my speed. At one point I think I may have even broke into a run. As I made my way through the castle, I thought about all the things that I was going to say to Remus. There were so many things to say.

I'm sorry.

I love you.

I thought I was pregnant.

Yeah, I think I could leave that last one out. A pregnancy scare was the last thing we needed on our plate right now. I wasn't even sure if Remus wanted to patch things up or if we'd even be able to get back to where we were.

When I arrived at the Hospital Wing, all the things that I had wanted to say to Remus drifted from my mind and then there was nothing. Before I could enter into the room, Madame Pomfrey stopped right in front of me. "Ms. Parker, what are you doing out of bed this early?" she asked, keeping the door closed enough to where I couldn't see in.

"I'm here to see Remus," I told her simply. Madame Pomfrey let out a sigh and gave me a look.

"Ms. Parker," she said, almost as if she knew she was going to be having this conversation, "You know that I cannot allow you in to see any patients right now. You are more than welcome to return at the proper visiting hours, assuming Mr. Lupin is up for visitors."

"Madame Pomfrey," I said quietly, "I know that it is against your rules and the school's rules, but I need to see Remus. I know all about his problem, so if that's the issue, there isn't one." Madame Pomfrey just watched me as I was nearing the brink of crying. Not seeing a change in her at all I decided that I just needed to go all in. "As I'm sure you know there has been some tension between Remus and me lately." Madame Pomfrey was taken aback for a moment as I continued. "I haven't talked to Remus in weeks. I've barely even seen him, and the times that I have, we were fighting or I was so angry at him." The tears started to roll down my cheeks. "I need to talk to him; I need to see him. I need to," I repeated, a sense of desperation in my voice.

Madame Pomfrey looked at me with a look of what I could only assume was pity. She looked back behind her and then turned back to me. "Okay," she said. "I will allow it this one time." I began to smile graciously. "But Ms. Parker, we mention this to no one." I nodded my head in agreement and she moved aside holding the door open to me.

I slowly walked into the Hospital Wing and immediately located the bed with Remus in it. He was currently the only patient, so it wasn't too hard to find him. My heart immediately sunk at the sight of his crumpled figure but I continued to move toward him. I had to be near him. I needed to touch him just to make sure he was real.

As I neared the bed and sat in the nearby chair, Remus's eyes opened and he stiffly shifted his body to face me. Tears still streaming from my eyes, I reached out and took his still hand into mine. A moment later, I felt a light squeeze. Then, I lost it. "Oh, Remus," I said bringing my other hand up to cover my mouth. "I am so sorry." Remus immediately began to shake his head.

"No," he said groggily. "Stop that. I should be the one apologizing," he said stroking my hand with his thumb. "This is all my fault and I don't even deserve to have you come and visit me right now. I have been a complete ass to you and you don't deserve that."

"You don't deserve any of this either, Remus," I told him, sitting forward in my chair. "I've hurt you, Remus. I hurt you," I said with disgust. I closed my eyes and shook my head as it hung limply in defeat. "I didn't even remember tonight was a full moon. I am a terrible person."

"Come here," Remus said scooting over slightly in his bed and pulling me toward him. He folded back the covers and I settled in next to him on the bed, his arm around my shoulders. "You are not a terrible person. You are the most amazing and loving person I know," he told me as I rested my head on his chest. "Plus, it's my own fault that we have been so distant lately. And believe me; I've probably hurt you far more than you've hurt me." As I laid there next to Remus I could only think of one thing. "I love you," he whispered. He kissed the top of my head. "I love you and I'm sorry."

I sat there for a minute just taking in the moment. "Remus," I said, "I need to tell you something." I had to tell him. I couldn't keep this from him.

"Anything," he said. Yeah he might just rethink that statement if he knew what I was going to tell him. I was afraid of what could happen if I told him, but I knew it would be wrong to keep something like that from him.

I took a deep breath and then opened my mouth. "I thought I was pregnant," I said quietly. I immediately felt Remus's body tense up. It was amazing how quickly I screwed this all up again. I should have never said anything. The shit was going to hit the fan again and we were going to be back to square one. I just lay there in Remus's arms as still as I could keep my trembling body. When Remus continued to say nothing, I pulled myself up and positioned myself to look at Remus.

Remus's eyes were filled with a mix of fear and anxiety. I watched him as his gaze quickly shifted to my stomach for a quick second. "What do you mean?" he asked slowly.

I looked down at my shaking hands and took a deep breath. "I mean that I thought that I was carrying your child." Even still the words brought chills to my body and made me feel sick. Remus let out a sigh and leaned back into his pillows. For what seemed like an hour, he just stared up at the ceiling.

"When did all this happen?" he asked, looking me straight in the eyes.

"Um, I think it was last Friday," I told him. I was still trying to gage his emotions. I couldn't tell if he was angry, scared, freaking out; any emotion would honestly put me at ease. Remus brought his hands up to his face. He rubbed his eyes and his temples and let out a deep breath.

"God, Lyla, I'm so sorry. I know I keep saying that but now, words can't even make it right," he said taking my hands in his.

I looked up at Remus, a little shocked. I can't lie, I was relieved that he wasn't angry but I thought for sure he would be freaking out; I mean, I did. "You're not mad or anything?" I asked him.

Remus quickly leaned forward. "Lyla, no," he said passionately. "I mean, I wish you would have told me, but I'm just sorry that you had to go through that alone. I am ashamed in myself that I wasn't there for you. You had to have been scared to death."

I let out a slight laugh. "Yeah, I was terrified," I told him. He pulled me back against his body and held me tight. "Alexa and Blair were there though, so I wasn't alone," I said trying to make him feel better.

"That's no excuse," he said bluntly. "I should have been there for you Lyla. I should have been by your side. There to comfort you and tell you that it was going to be all right."

He was being so hard on himself. Looking back on it, it would have been nice to have had Remus with me through all of it, but it wasn't his fault he wasn't there. I hadn't exactly reached out to him. "Look, Remus, I know you feel bad about not being there, but you don't have to," I told him placing my hand on his chest. "I just want to put all this stuff in the past, put it behind us. The important thing is that we are together right now, and nothing is going to change that."

Remus squeezed me tighter and began to rub my arm soothingly. "So, you aren't…?" he asked trailing off, clearly struggling with the possibility as I first had.

"No," I quickly said. "I am not." Man, I never thought I would feel so much joy in saying those words.

"How did you find out? Does Madame Pomfrey know? Who exactly does know?" he quickly rattled off.

"No, Madame Pomfrey does not know. We checked out some books from the library and found a spell. And the only people that know besides me and you are Alexa and Blair," I informed him.

"I'm assuming Alexa checked out the books," he said, I nodded my head. "Well, that explains all the rumors." I laughed a little.

"You heard those, did you?" I asked. Remus nodded his head while laughing.

"Lyla, I love you," he said again. I returned the endearment by snuggling closer to his body.

I let out a groan, sat up, and then slipped off the bed. "Well, I suppose I should let you get some rest. Poppy will not be happy with me if I keep you from healing properly," I told him reluctantly. Remus shook his head and grabbed my hand.

"Please stay with me," he pleaded. "I just got you back and I can't bear to be away from you right now." He gave me a pout and his puppy dog eyes, knowing full well that I couldn't resist them, and I rolled my eyes at him. "I think I will heal much quicker if you lie back down and stay with me."

"Oh, really?" I questioned him. Remus furiously nodded his head and patted the space on the bed beside him. "You know, I don't think that that has been medically proven to help heal." He just smiled at me and pulled me back toward the bed. I pulled the covers back and resumed my spot on the bed. I settled into the curve of his body and rested my head on his chest, suddenly realizing that I was still a little tired. I closed my eyes and was calmed by the sound of Remus breathing. After a while our breathing matched. For the first time, in what seemed like years, I fell asleep happy and in the arms of the person I loved.

The next morning, Remus and I were woken up by the jovial faces of our lovely friends. They all were ecstatic to see Remus and gathered around the bed in excitement. "Good morning, you two!" Blair exclaimed joyfully. "You two look quite smitten." I looked up at Remus and gave him a smile; he gave my hand a squeeze.

"Yeah, we're doing good," Remus said gratefully.

Sirius let out a sigh of relief. "Finally!" he exclaimed. Alexa gave him a concerned look and hit him in the chest. "What? I'm just so glad everything is back to normal again. We haven't all been together in a really long time."

James nodded his head in agreement. "That's for sure. Between Professor Wolfe and baby drama, I was starting to think we were really messed up." My eyes widened and my jaw dropped. Looking around, everyone else was about in the same state as me, except James.

"James, what the hell?" Sirius said looking at James in shock.

"Oh, crap, I forgot," James said looking extremely guilty. "I fudged up real bad guys, sorry."

"I told you not to say anything you prat!" Sirius scolded.

Alexa quickly turned to Sirius. "You told him!?" she questioned. "I thought I told you not to tell anyone. Remember that whole conversation about telling no one, not even James? Well, I really did mean tell no one!"

"Oh, come on, you knew I was going to tell James," Sirius said. "That was oversight on your part."

"Guys," Remus said jumping in, "It's alright, I know. Lyla told me this morning."

"See," Sirius said, "No big deal."

Alexa shook her head and then looked at me. I just sat there and shook my head at her. "You're dead to me," I told her plainly.

"Well, you shouldn't have trusted me," she said trying to turn this all on me. "The lie I told Sirius was just plain reckless."

Oh, I could not believe I was hearing this. This was classic Alexa. "I thought you said the lie was completely full proof and that there was no way anyone could see through that lie," I pointed out to her.

Alexa's face scrunched up. "Well, I thought it was but we completely didn't take into consideration possible outside factors," she said trying to wiggle out of any blame.

"Outside factors?" I asked. "Outside factors like the fact that Sirius can all too easily seduce you and you have no self control when Sirius turns on his charm?" Alexa just smiled naturally and slowly nodded her head.

"Okay, those are all true, but in my defense, have you seen his abs?" she said as Sirius just basked in the praise.

"Alexa! They are just abs! That secret was way more important than getting your cheap thrills with his measly abs," I reprimanded.

Sirius leaned forward in his seat. "Lyla, Lyla, Lyla. I feel that I must correct you. They are not just abs; they are washboard abs!" he said heatedly lifting his shirt up to expose his well-defined stomach.

"Oh, just put your shirt down," Alexa said looking away. "You are not helping the matter even if you think you are." Sirius lowered his shirt and we all began to laugh.

* * *

As I took a seat at our usual table that Saturday morning in the Great Hall, Alexa was already angry about something and it was only ten in the morning. Blair was sitting beside Alexa and she looked to be trying to calm down my over reactive sister. "Good morning, ladies," I said with a bright smile, pouring myself a cup of pumpkin juice.

Alexa snapped her head to look at me and had a scowl plastered on her face. "Disagree," she said sharply. "It is not a good morning at all. In fact, it is an absolutely terrible morning." Alexa picked up her fork and began to take her apparent anger out on her innocent and unsuspecting eggs.

"What's got your wand in a knot?" I asked my fuming sister.

"The rumors about me being pregnant are just getting ridiculous. People are so freaking mean. You're lucky that I love you and Remus, otherwise I would backhand half of these two bit tramps that are talking smack," Alexa seethed. Damn. Alexa had pretty much lost it.

I gave Alexa a loving smile. "I appreciate very much what you are doing for me. You know I love you for it. My advice is to just not get upset. You know the rumors aren't true, Sirius knows they're not true; so just whenever anyone says anything, ignore them."

"I've been trying to do that," Alexa whined. Blair let out a scoff. "What?" Alexa asked turning on Blair.

"Trying?" she questioned, giving Alexa a look. "I practically had to restrain you from stabbing that poor Ravenclaw girl when you heard her say that she thought she could see your baby bump." I quickly covered my mouth to hide my small smile. Alexa just rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, whatever," she said nonchalantly. "You so owe me," she told me. I gave her a grateful smile and continued to eat my breakfast.

After a good ten minutes had past, we heard a faint whisper near us. "Look, there she is," the voice said. We conspicuously looked around and found two Slytherin girls looking over at Alexa and talking to each other. "Total tragedy that she and Sirius got pregnant," the bleach blonde said.

"Oh I know; it was somewhat depressing when I heard," the brunette friend added.

Alexa leaned in and whispered, "Finally some sympathy." We craned our necks to better hear what they were saying.

"It's truly a pity that the Black genes are being wasted on a girl like that. Sirius really should have held out for a pureblood Slytherin," the blonde continued. Alexa's eyes narrowed and her hands balled up into fists. Well, so much for sympathy.

"I guess all we can do is hope that the child is born with Sirius's looks," the brunette said through a laugh. The two girls broke into a fit of laughter.

Alexa slammed her hands on the table and stood up violently. She turned around and faced the girls who were sitting behind us. "Alright, let's go, right now," Alexa said forcefully. Blair quickly grabbed Alexa and pulled her back into her seat as the two girls swiftly made their way out of the Great Hall, all the while throwing glares at Alexa.

"Alexa, what the hell were you doing?" Blair asked as Alexa settled back into her seat.

"I was going to fight those hussies," Alexa said bitterly. "Enough is enough," she added, "I have had it with these catty girls and these stupid rumors. We are going to go to the library to try and figure out who was in the library the day I checked out those books. I want to know who started the rumors and then make them suffer." Alexa stood from her spot and then addressed Blair and myself. "Alright, I am going to go get the guys, you two meet us in the library in ten minutes." With that, Alexa turned and was out of the Great Hall in a flash. Blair and I finished up our breakfasts quickly and then reported for duty in the library.

"I still don't see why we all had to come to the library to take care of this," Sirius complained as all seven of us sat around a large table in the middle of the library.

"I thought it would be a lovely bonding activity," Alexa said sarcastically. "Just everyone stop griping and let's get down to business." Sirius huffed and sunk down in his chair. Remus laughed at the brooding Sirius. "I am going to go talk to Madame Pince to see if she can help me, you guys just sit here and look for suspicious people who may be following us around." Alexa walked over to Madame Pince with conviction, leaving the rest of us at the table.

"I swear, I'm getting hives from being in here," Sirius said scratching at his arms. We all collectively rolled our eyes and laughed at our friend. "Why are we looking for suspicious people anyway? I highly doubt that there is anyone following us."

"Let's just sit here and act like we are doing something; just do it for Alexa," I said, somewhat agreeing with Sirius.

"Hey," James said sitting up in his seat and squinting his eyes, "Who is that?" We all turned to look where James was looking. About ten feet away was a girl with light brown hair that was cut into an extremely short bob. "I don't think I've ever seen her before."

"Well, if she spends time in the library, that's really not all that surprising," Blair pointed out, leaning back in her seat. James playfully stuck his tongue out at her.

"I can't say I know who she is either, she doesn't even really look all that familiar," Sirius added. I narrowed my eyes and tried to make out her features. To tell you the truth, I really did know who she was. She looked somewhat familiar but I couldn't place her face with a name or anything. "You guys, I think she's looking over here; everyone look away," Sirius whispered hastily.

We all quickly averted our eyes, but it was no use. She must have seen us all starring at her because she was walking over to our table. "Just play it cool," James instructed.

"Um, hi," the girl said as she stopped in front of our table. We all turned to her with smiles on our faces. "I'm Laura; Laura Calloway." she introduced herself.

"Hi, Laura," we all said collectively.

She gave us all a smile. "I was just wondering if you could tell me where to find books about Herbology. I cannot seem to find them anywhere." None of us said anything right away. As we sat there for a moment, I quickly took notice that her robes had the Hufflepuff emblem on them.

"Yeah, they are all the way in the back on the left," Remus answered her question.

"Great, thanks," she said smiling. Before she turned to leave, something made her stop. "The Chuddley Cannons," she said taking notice of the book Peter had been flipping through, "They're my favorite team." Peter looked from the book to Laura and began to blush. I looked to both Sirius and James who were both eyeing Laura suspiciously.

"Don't take this the wrong way," Sirius said, "But, are you sure you go to this school." Sirius always knew how to make people feel comfortable.

"What Sirius means," I said jumping in, hopefully saving Laura's feelings from being hurt, "Is that, he doesn't recognize you."

Laura just smiled and laughed. "It's okay; I'm not all that surprised that you guys don't know who I am. I'm a fifth year Hufflepuff and you guys are the Marauders," she said with certain affection in her voice. Sirius and James both nodded their heads with pride. "You guys are the coolest, not to mention hottest guys in the school, and I'm just a shy girl who pretty much just keeps to herself. I wouldn't say our paths cross that much." Blair's eyebrows rose as Laura praised her boyfriend and his mates. She gave Sirius and James a big smile. "Well, I better be going," she said backing away from the table. "Thanks for the help, and hopefully I'll see you guys around." As she walked away, I just got this weird feeling about her.

"Well, she was just delightful," James said watching Laura as she walked away.

"Eh, she was alright," Blair said, a little jealous.

"I agree, James; she was very nice and clearly had good taste. Plus, I think she had an eye on our little Petey over there," Sirius said looking at Peter. Peter just continued to blush as he pretended to read the book in front of him.

"Who was that?" Alexa asked as she returned to the table.

"Her name is Laura; she's a Hufflepuff," Sirius said. Alexa just shrugged her shoulders, deeming it unimportant at the moment.

"So was Madame Pince able to give us a lead?" I asked hopefully.

Alexa's face took on a defeated look. "No, she said there were so many people in the library that day that she couldn't possibly remember who all was there. So, it unfortunately looks like we have hit a dead end."

We all quickly got up from the table. "Oh, darn," Sirius said pushing his abandoned chair back under the table. "I guess we have no choice but to leave this place and just go and waste away our day doing other things." The other three boys nodded their heads in agreement and began to follow Sirius out of the library.

"Well, geeze, don't sound so happy about it guys," Alexa said as we too took after Sirius. Once outside the library Sirius started flailing around and making motions that looked as if he was wiping something off of his clothing. "Sirius, what on earth are you doing?"

"I am ridding myself of the library filth that now cloaks me in shame," Sirius said shuddering. "Do you smell that?" he asked wrinkling his nose and taking in a deep breath. We all sniffed around, but I didn't smell anything. "It reeks of musty old books. It consumes me. I'm going to need to take a shower, to dispel this stench."

"Oh, Sirius, don't be ridiculous," Alexa said. "You do not smell like books, you aren't going to die because you went into the library, and you are not cloaked with filth."

"Alexa, you don't even know," Sirius said. "But you do make a valid point, I am being simply ridiculous. I can't waste valuable time on a Saturday with showers and such; I will just have to remove my clothes right here. It's a sacrifice, but I'm willing to make it so you do not have to be seen with a shameful me. You're welcome."

"Padfoot, if you take any article of clothing off in front of me, I will be forced to kick your ass," James said.

"I guess I can accept that," Sirius replied.

"Anyways, back to our lives," Remus said, ignoring the two boys and starting down the corridor. "What's in store for this Saturday? Knowing you two," he said looking to James and Sirius, "You have already come up with some crazy elaborate plan, so let's hear it."

"Moony, I'm hurt; you think I would keep secrets from you?" Sirius asked, looking hurt.

"Oh, Sirius, I know that you keep secrets from me. But, here's a secret of my own, I usually figure them out and I just don't tell you," Remus said.

"First off, I pretty much tell you guys everything, but I must admit that there are some things that I keep from you boys because no one should ever know them. I don't even like knowing them," Sirius said reminiscing about certain events in his mind, wincing slightly at them. "And, you say you know some of my secrets, I highly doubt that. These secrets I have never mentioned to anyone and I never will. So, I highly doubt that you know."

Remus smiled slyly. "Last year, a certain Hufflepuff girl, and--."

"Okay, that's enough!" Sirius exclaimed jumping in. "We can just stop right there." Remus smiled widely and we all looked around questioningly, wanting to get to the bottom of this curious secret. "How did you even know about that?"

"I suppose I'm just all knowing," Remus said haughtily.

"Sensei, you truly are amazing. But, I will ask you to never repeat what you know. Never. Never," Sirius stressed.

"I get it, never tell anyone," Remus said getting annoyed by the repetition. "Quick question, when you say never, are we really talking never or are we talking your version of never, like when you said you would never tell James about Lyla?" Wow, we had to keep bringing that up didn't we?

"One time, Remus, one time," Sirius said. We all looked at him skeptically. "Okay, maybe twice. Three times tops, but whatever. And for your information I mean the real never."

"What happened last year? And who was the Hufflepuff? And, um, what the hell happened between the two of you?" Alexa asked getting a little worried as to what went on.

"I love you," he responded cautiously with a smile.

Alexa's eyes narrowed as we neared the entrance to the common room. "What happened, Sirius?"

"Would you believe me if I said nothing happened?" Sirius asked hopefully. Alexa scoffed and Sirius quickly continued. "Okay, clearly not. Look, that was a long time ago, and it really shouldn't even factor into the present."

"It was last year!" Alexa exclaimed as we filed passed the Fat Lady and into the common room. "I do not consider that a long time ago. In fact that is fairly recent." Sirius sat down in his usual chair and scooted over to make room for Alexa. Alexa, to be frank, just rejected him and came to sit down next to Remus and me.

"Alrighty then," Sirius said as he watched Alexa. "Well, I have learned from experience that I can't win, so I will just say this; I'm sorry. I really don't want to tell you what happened because to be honest, I am completely ashamed. However, I will say this; I'm never ashamed when I'm with you."

"I'm not entirely sure if that's a compliment or an insult," Alexa said in thought. My thoughts exactly. "But thanks anyway," she responded with a slight smile.

"So," James said, jumping into the conversation, "back to the original conversation that started us off on this completely random and unnecessary tangent. As Remus has so aptly pointed out, Sirius and I always have a plan; it's just in our nature. The plan for this evening is a great one, if I say so myself."

"If this plan is stupid and completely just outrageous, I will shut you down," Blair said, warning James.

"Bear, why do you doubt me so? When have we ever had a plan that is ridiculous?" he asked.

Blair just laughed, deeming that question not even worthy of answering. "James," Peter said, "Ninety-five percent of the time your plans are insane."

"Et tu, Peter?" he dramatized. Peter just smiled slightly and then sunk deeper into his chair. "But, on a lighter note, tonight we are going to Hogsmeade." James and Sirius looked at each other and shared a huge grin. They both nodded their heads and looked at all of us; Remus shook his head and covered his eyes.

"It's almost as if they hear nothing we say," Blair said looking to Alexa and me.

"Oh, come on, it's not even that risky," Sirius said. "We use the cloak and the map to get in and out, and besides, we've done it before without any problems."

"Okay, fine, I really don't even care anymore," Alexa said surrendering way earlier than she usually does. Most times we get a good fifteen minutes of arguing first.

"Alexa, are you feeling okay?" I asked.

"I'm feeling fine," she said shaking me off. "I usually don't win at these sorts of things, so, just like Sirius, I will just submit. Plus, I really don't feel like fighting with him tonight, I just want to have some fun with you guys."

"Fine, I guess we will go then," I said shrugging my shoulders.

"Spectacular!" Sirius exclaimed, getting up abruptly from his seat. "You know, I like this whole new submissive side to you," he said to Alexa.

Alexa got up from her seat never breaking eye contact with Sirius. "Yeah, well don't get too used to it," she told him, walking over to the stairs leading to our dorm. "As soon as I get enough energy to fight with you again, I will be back in the game."

"Thank God," Sirius said, in a raspy voice.

Alexa, Blair and I went up to our dorm to get our jackets while the boys ran up to their dorm to gather up the map and the invisibility cloak. It was decided that the girls would get to wear the cloak. In the somewhat likely chance we were to get caught, at least we would be protected and just the boys would get in trouble. Sound harsh? Well, that's because it is. The boys practically lived for trouble so we weren't too concerned about it.

We draped the cloak over us and we all slowly made our way out of the common room. Sirius was manning the map and was leading the pack. "Okay, so according to the map, we are clear for the surrounding area. That being said, we should still remain cautious and quiet," he said, "Especially you, Alex."

Alexa's brow furrowed and she violently lifted the cloak up. "How about you just concentrate on making sure we get to Hogsmeade without getting caught. Plus, you're the one that has the trouble with keeping your mouth shut." Alexa dropped the cloak back down.

"Me? You're the one that always--," Sirius started.

I lifted the cloak up next. "Sirius, please," I pleaded.

Sirius nodded his head, "For you Lyla, for you. Only for you and not for anyone else, especially anyone else underneath that cloak." I lowered the cloak and positioned it to make sure we were covered completely. Alexa gave me a frustrated look and I just patted her on the back. "Okay, we can continue."

Sirius turned to face forward and we proceeded with prudence. We stepped carefully and tried to remain as quiet as possible, but it was hard for us to keep quiet, it just wasn't our thing. "How much longer is this going to take? Could we possibly move a little faster?" Alexa asked getting a little impatient. I swear the amount of patience this girl had was phenomenally low.

"Alexa, really?" James asked. "You are completely ridiculous right now. We have been walking for ten minutes."

"Yeah, well I'm getting bored with all this," she said from beneath the cloak. "I really don't think it's unreasonable to ask to pick up the pace just a smidge."

James stopped and turned to look at the invisible space that is us. "Fine, we will speed up a bit, but I'm going to need a little more silence from underneath that cloak. Okay?" James asked.

"Fine," Alexa said stubbornly. She stuck her tongue out at James as he turned back in the direction we were headed. As we continued to walk, Alexa continued to make faces at James.

"Oh, and Alexa," James added, still looking straight ahead, "You can stop making those faces, they are completely ineffective." Alexa quickly drew her tongue back in and snapped her mouth shut. Her eyes wide open; she looked over to Blair and me.

"How does he even do that?" she whispered.

"Years of practice, my dear friend," James said. He looked slightly over his shoulder and we could see a small smile.

"What an arrogant prat," Alexa said even quieter, rolling her eyes at James.

"That's not arrogance; that's just excellence," James responded.

Alexa lifted the cloak vigorously. "Now, that's just annoying," she told James. James gave her a million dollar smile and Alexa stuck her tongue out at him.

"You guys be quiet," Remus said hastily looking down at the map in Sirius's hands. The chatter continued while it seemed that I was the only one who had heard Remus. "Hey, stop it," he said patting James on the shoulder trying to get him to stop bickering with Alexa.

"Remus, what is it?" I asked seeing the look of concern on his face as he eyed the map.

"There is someone coming," he said anxiously. All of us froze suddenly, not even wanting to breathe.

"How did this happen?" Blair asked a look of panic on her face. "I thought the map was supposed to prevent this sort of thing from happening."

"Yeah, well, Sirius was watching the map, so, you know," Alexa said shrugging.

"Oh, come on, how did you expect me to pay attention with you two squabbling all over the place," Sirius defended himself.

"Stop!" I whisper shouted. "We can fight about this later. Right now we need to hide from," I leaned forward to look at the map and my heart literally stopped from what I saw, "Oh, great. Hide from Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall." I should have known this was going to happen. It's just our luck.

Alexa started to breathe quicker. "We are so getting caught, and getting our asses so kicked," she said looking around highly paranoid.

"I really doubt that Dumbledore or McGonagall are going to kick our asses," James said. "At most some detentions, but I'm not too concerned."

"Look, we just need to hide somewhere, and quick," Remus said, stressing the quick. "Sirius, is there a broom closet nearby?"

"And why would you just assume that I would know something like that?" Sirius said looking offended.

"Well, you know, certain extracurricular activities that you partake in," Remus said. Alexa's eyes widened and looked to Sirius. "You know what, that's not important right now. They are just around the corner."

We all just looked and spun around like chickens with our heads cut off. It seemed that there was no way out. We were screwed, and I just kind of accepted it. "I've got it," Sirius said snapping his fingers. "Here, give me the cloak." We quickly threw the cloak to Sirius and he handed one corner of it to James. "Hold it up and everyone get behind it."

Was he serious? "Are you serious?" Alexa asked as James and Sirius began to hold up the cloak.

"Why, yes, yes I am," he said cheekily.

"This probably won't work but we don't have any other choice. Everyone behind the cloak," Sirius said grabbing my hand and pulling me along with him. We all piled behind the invisible shield and held our breaths that this would by some miracle work. After a few moments of waiting in silence, we heard the faint noise of voices drifting near us.

"I really think that it is something that needs our attention," McGonagall was saying as she and Dumbledore rounded the corner. We quietly backed up further against the wall. "They can only get away with these shenanigans so many times, Albus."

James and Sirius looked at each other with absolute joy. "She's talking about us!" Sirius mouthed excitedly. I put my finger up to my lips to demand their silence. James gave a cheesy smile and practically started bouncing up and down. Blair quickly hit James and he stopped, but you could still see the elation he was feeling.

"Minerva, you mustn't get so upset with them. They are just having a good time. I was their age at one time, and I too pulled some stunts like that in my day," Dumbledore said in his sweet voice. They continued to walk and we were getting so close to being home free.

"What get's me is that, what we catch them doing is only a small miniscule fraction of what they are actually doing. How do they get away with it?" she questioned. James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter all exchanged smiles.

"I suppose that is just the magic of being young my dear Minerva," Dumbledore replied as they passed in front of us. Just as they were passing, Dumbledore looked slightly over toward us and there was a twinkle in his eye. I don't know how he saw us, or if he even did, but that look just made me smile.

Dumbledore and McGonagall rounded the next corner and disappeared out of sight. After waiting a few moments for god measure, we all let out a collective sigh. "I can't believe that worked," Alexa said trying to catch her breath; apparently she had been literally holding her breath for a majority of the time.

"We must remember to send Minnie a lovely fruit basket for her kind words," Sirius said, still smiling.

"I knew she secretly loved us," James mused. "She acts like she hates us, but there is a relatively large place in her heart that is reserved just for us." I just smiled and shook my head at the boys. Although, I had to agree; even though McGonagall acted like she hated to Marauders, she really did like them.

"Well, now that that mini heart attack has passed, can we hurry up and get to Hogsmeade so I can rest a little easier?" Alexa asked rubbing her chest.

Sirius nodded his head and held the map up in front of his face, looking very official. "Yeah, I think I'll handle the map from now on," Remus said with a laugh, pulling the map from Sirius's hands.

"Remus," Sirius said sternly. "Taking a man's map away from him is like taking his balls and feeding them to the Giant Squid in the Black Lake."

"Oh please," Remus said scoffing. "They are not at all the same and I am in no way trying to demean you. I just feel that I should be the one to carry the map, given recent events."

"Remus," Alexa said nonchalantly, "Feel free to demean him all you want, I do." She gave Sirius a sickly sweet smile and he just gave her a scowl.

"Hey, you know what, I really think we should continue," Sirius said changing the subject. "I need a drink," he added, releasing a sigh. "Oh, but Alexa really shouldn't have any because we all remember what happened the last time she drank." Blair and I looked at each other and began to laugh, but we were quickly silenced by a death glare sent by Alexa.

"Hey, let's not bring that up again," she said angrily. "Besides, you're the one who got me drunk. And that was not my fault. I had never been drunk before and I'm never doing that again. I felt like shit the next day." Alexa rubbed her head, remembering the pain she was in the next day.

We all laughed at and acted out Alexa's drunken outbursts. Personally, I thought it was hilarious, but Alexa was less than enthused. We continued our journey and we finally reached the secret passageway that led directly to Honeydukes. When we entered into the secure confines of the passageway, we took off the invisibility cloak and I fixed my hair and disheveled shirt and sweater.

"So where shall we rest our bones? We have The Three Broomsticks, Madame Pudifoot's, or The Hogshead," Remus said listing our options.

"The Three Broomsticks is too crowded and a teacher could be there," Blair said.

"Well, Madame Pudifoot's makes me nauseous," Peter said. Aw, poor Pete. We needed to find him a girlfriend.

"And The Hogshead has some weird people who are off the beaten path," Alexa said shrugging.

"So, where does that leave us?" I asked, after we got absolutely nowhere.

"I make the executive decision to go to The Three Broomsticks," Sirius said. "As far as the whole teacher being there thing, it's not a big deal. I doubt there will even be that many people there."

"Oh, fine," Alexa said. "Just know that I know the only reason you want to go there is because of Madame Rosmerta." Sirius shrugged his shoulders in acceptance. Alexa's jaw dropped and hit him in the back of the head. Sirius rubbed his head and leaned over and placed a kiss on Alexa's cheek. Alexa reluctantly smiled a bit.

After we creeped through Honeydukes and made our way to The Three Broomsticks, we found a semi-secluded booth that we could sit in. I filed in first and Remus followed. We all settled in and Remus put his arm around me and took one of my hands in his. Madame Rosmerta came over to our table wearing a smile on her face. "Ah, my favorite customers," she said. "You know, I thought there was a rule about students being out after dark, especially about leaving the school grounds."

Sirius just smiled and leaned forward, "Oh, Rosmerta, you know we've never been a fan of rules."

Rosmerta shook her head and laughed. "That I do know. So what can I do for you?"

"Fire whiskey for everyone," Sirius said leaning back and placing an arm around Alexa's shoulders.

Rosmerta nodded, "Coming right up." She began to return to her bar when she stopped, "And please try to make your presence scarce. I don't want angry professors coming into my pub." We all nodded understandingly.

"Now the fun begins my friends," Sirius said with a mischievous smile. "We are going to get inebriated and then subsequently make poor choices. Who's with me?" He looked around the table eagerly as we all looked hesitantly at one another.

"Well, you know that I'm in," James said giving Sirius a high-five. "Go ahead and count Wormtail in too," he added clapping Peter on the back. "What about you, Bear?"

"When in Rome," she said grabbing a mug of fire whiskey as Rosmerta was unloading her tray onto our table. "Here's to lowered inhibitions," she said raising her glass in a toast. James gave Blair a big smile as Sirius laughed and took a large sip from his cup. Blair caught James's smile and quickly set her cup down. "But if you think that this means you're getting lucky tonight, you've been sorely misled." James looked away slightly laughing.

"Oh!" Sirius exclaimed. "Rejection is a bitch, my brother."

"Yeah, you're not getting either," Alexa said sipping her whiskey slowly.

"The night is young," Sirius said cheekily as he turned his body to face Alexa.

"Yep, and it's going to stay that way," she said with a smile and patting his cheek.

"We'll see," he said almost as if it was a challenge.

As my friends talked amongst themselves, I settled into the familiar hold of Remus's arms. It had been a long time since I had had those arms around me. I looked up to find Remus laughing at something I had missed. I just sat there and watched him smile. Things felt good to be back to how they used to be. "What's wrong?" Remus asked, realizing that I was staring.

"Nothing, absolutely nothing," I said smiling and leaning my head on his shoulder. As I shifted my head my hair began to fall into my face, but Remus quickly brushed it away and tucked it behind my ear.

"Are you happy, Lyla?" he asked.

I squeezed his hand tighter. "Now I am," I told him. "I've got my life back; I've got you back."

We sat there in silence for a time, just holding each other, but I could tell that something was on Remus's mind. Almost as if he wanted to ask me something. "Lyla," he finally said, "I know this is probably the last thing you want to talk about right now, but I think we need to discuss this." I sat up a bit and nodded my head. I knew that at some point we were going to have to talk about it, but I was kind of hoping that it would come about some time from now. "What made you think that you were pregnant?"

I took a deep breath. "Well, I had been really tired, emotional, and sick. I thought it was just me being emotionally drained and upset with you. I was late and things just kind of fit." I looked up at him and he looked back at me with intensity. "I realize now that I was just jumping to conclusions and it really was just stress from our fight. It's not a big deal." I wanted to play it off as such, but it wasn't. That was one of the scariest times of my life.

"Lyla, it is a big deal," Remus said turning toward me. "You are sixteen and you thought you were pregnant; I would classify that as a big deal. I just wish you would have told me. I would have been there for you."

"Remus," I said confused, "We were furious at each other. I thought you hated me, frankly, I hated myself; I wasn't about to tell you something like that." I paused and he looked down at our intertwined fingers. "I just kept thinking if you didn't want me anymore, there was no way you would want my baby." Thinking back on it brought up all the emotions that I had felt. I felt warm tears welling up. I dropped my head quickly to hide my tears. Remus's hand brushed my cheek wiping away the tears. He moved his hand into my hair and I rested my cheek in his palm.

"You are incredible and I love you," he said giving me a smile. "Although this whole thing has sucked and it's been hard on both of us, something good has come out of it." I couldn't really thing of anything good that came of it. I wouldn't really call a pregnancy scare and fights good things. "I realized just how much I love you. This whole thing was really about me being afraid of losing you. I want to be with you forever, and I will promise you right now, no matter how mad we get at each other, I will always love you and you can always come to me if you have a problem. Even if one day you get tired of me, I will always be there; I am yours forever." Wow. I felt the teardrops falling, but they weren't sad tears, they were happy. I grabbed Remus's face and pulled it to mine for a kiss.

"Oh, shit," Sirius said holding his hand up hiding his face from the rest of the bar. "Look over there, but don't be too obvious." We all cautiously looked over to where Sirius had indicated, and to our dismay we saw professors Flitwick and Slughorn.

"Oh, shit is right," Alexa said starting to freak out.

"We need to figure out a way to get out of here and quick," James said pulling his jacket on and grabbing the cloak. My heart began to beat faster when I saw Slughorn look over to where we were sitting. "There is a door in the back that leads into an alley; do you think we can make it?"

"I think we can, but we have to be super careful," Remus said helping me with my own coat. "We need to make sure we don't show our faces as we walk by. Just hide your faces, walk quickly and we should be fine."

"Alright, let's do this," Sirius said taking the last sip out of his second or third glass. We filed out of the booth and slyly maneuvered our way along the back wall, all the while being conscious of Flitwick and Slughorn at the bar. Suddenly there was a crashing noise and it was way to close to us. We stopped and turned around. Alexa stood frozen with three chairs at her feet. Alexa was staring down at the chairs and then quickly looked up at us her eyes open in fear.

As Alexa was apologizing to us for knocking the chairs over, I looked over at the rest of the bar and saw several people looking our way. This wasn't going at all according to plan. "Horace," Flitwick said, squinting his eyes in our direction, "Is that…"

"You guys, we have a problem," I said quickly as Professor Slughorn was searching his pockets for his glasses.

"Yeah, we know, Alexa is clumsy," Sirius said.

"Yes, but more than that, Flitwick and Slughorn are looking over here," I said.

Everyone's head snapped around toward the bar. Sirius got all of our attention, "Okay, we are abandoning the plan. Just run for your lives!!" he shouted and then bust the door open and took off running. We all were a little shocked at first but then we got with it and hauled ass after Sirius. "Everyone get back to the tunnel quickly!" he yelled as we ran wildly and aimlessly through the streets of Hogsmeade. As I ran I looked back to the back part of The Three Broomsticks and saw three adult figures standing in the doorway. If they didn't see us, then we had to be the luckiest people in the world.

Once we were in front of Honeydukes, we paused for a moment and waited for Sirius to catch up. As I caught my breath, I began to feel extremely lightheaded. I had never had been this out of breath after running. I drew in deep breaths through my nose and out my mouth. I closed my eyes, but that didn't seem to help seeing as I stumbled backward and if Alexa hadn't been there I would have fallen.

"Lyls, are you okay?" she asked. I regained my balance for a moment but then immediately lost it. The world was spinning and things were becoming extremely hazy and blurry. I saw Alexa looking at me with concern and then I felt my body falling. "Remus!" Then, total darkness.

* * *

"Do you think she's going to be okay?" This was the first thing I heard when I woke up. Where was I? I tried to open my eyes but I didn't quite have the energy for some reason so I just laid there and listen. The voice that I had just heard, I could tell, was Alexa.

"She'll be fine," Blair said, "Madame Pomfrey said that she just passed out and hit her head on the way down." When she said this, the pain in my head suddenly registered. I felt someone take my hand. The pain in my head was throbbing and it was almost unbearable. I harnessed all my energy and channeled it into opening my eyes.

"What happened to me?" I asked blinking my eyes and looking around at the people by my bed. There sat Alexa, Blair, Remus, Sirius and James. It was Remus who was holding my hand. I also realized that I was in the hospital wing. All the people surrounding my bed leaned forward when I finally opened my eyes.

"Hey there," Alexa said, resting her elbows on my bed. "How are you doing?"

"My head hurts like hell," I said groggily, bringing my free hand to my head. "Why does my head hurt so bad?"

"Well, as we were making our ingenious escape from Hogsmeade, you got a little light-headed and passed out," Sirius explained.

"Did we get caught?" I asked concerned.

James gave me a smile and then gave Sirius a nod. "No way," he said. "We got out of there scotch free. After you passed out, Remus carried you back to the castle. We brought you up here to the hospital wing and Alexa and Blair said that you passed out while getting ready for bed. No one asked questions, and no one has mentioned last night." A sense of relief flooded over me.

I looked up at Remus who was watching me intently. I gave him a weak smile and squeezed his hand. His eyes were intense and he never removed them from my face. He leaned in toward me and rested his arm on the bed above my head. "You scared me half to death," he whispered to me.

"I'm sorry," I told him quietly. "I'm fine though. I guess I was just tired and the excitement definitely was a little overwhelming."

He started to laugh slightly. "The funny thing is, even though I knew you were going to be fine, I had this terrible feeling that I was going to loose you."

"Well, I hate to tell you this, but you're stuck with me," I joked with him. "I'm not going anywhere anytime soon." Remus smiled and then placed a kiss on my forehead.

"Excuse me," Madame Pomfrey said standing behind the people surrounding me. They all turned to face her. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you all to leave now."

"Poppy," Sirius said getting up and walking over to Madame Pomfrey. He slung his arm around her. "Can't you make an exception for us?"

"Mr. Black, I can make no exceptions. I will need you all to leave," she said again. I gave them all a nod, letting them know that I would be fine and that they could leave. They all nodded in obligation and got up from their seats. Even after they all got to the door, Remus was still sitting by my side holding my hand. "Mr. Lupin, please join your friends, Ms. Parker needs her rest."

"I'm not quite ready to leave," Remus said still holding my gaze. I gave him a look.

"I assure you Ms. Parker will be fine without you and she will be released later this evening," Madame Pomfrey told him. I patted his hand and gave him a nod. He returned my nod and placed another kiss on my cheek. He reluctantly got up from his seat and went to join the others. One by one they filed out and finally the door closed behind them.

I leaned my head back against my pillow. "I'm sorry about them," I told Madame Pomfrey as she moved closer to my bed. There was an odd look on her face. "I bet you're tired of seeing us around here." She gave me a smile, but it was almost a smile with an underlying tone of pity. "So you said I would be able to leave later this evening?" I questioned.

"Yes, you can leave anytime after dinner," she said filling one of the now empty seats. "Ms. Parker, there is something important that we need to discuss." I looked at her quizzically, not really sure what she was alluding to. "When your friends brought you in, they said that you had just passed out, but I went ahead and did a whole workup on you because they said that you had hit your head." I had no idea what she was talking about, but the look on her face did not look promising.

"I found something when I tested you. I asked them all to leave because I didn't know if you were aware of your situation, or if you wanted anyone to know," she said.

"My situation?" I asked, severely confused. "What is my situation?"

She looked down at her hands resting in her lap. She took a deep breath and then said, "Lyla, did you know that you are with child?" she asked. My body immediately went rigid. Those words penetrated me to my very soul. This was the second time that this had been thrown my way and I have to say, it's even scarier the second time you hear it. But she couldn't possibly be right about this; I mean I did the test.

"Well, I thought I was, but I did a spell and it said that I wasn't," I tried to rationalize. "I can't be."

"I'm sorry, Ms. Parker, but you are," she said sadly.

"No, you don't understand," I said a little angrily, "I took a test and it said I wasn't pregnant."

"If the spell was old, it may be faulty. Many of those sorts of spells were ineffective even at the time of their creation, which is why no one uses them that much anymore. We have developed far more accurate ways to tell these sorts of things," she informed me. I leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Ms. Parker, you are most definitely pregnant." I felt the tears come to my eyes. This was all starting again and I had just gotten over the last time. I was too young to be pregnant, far too young. "Now, in the interest of confidentiality, I can't say anything about this until you are ready. However, I highly recommend that you tell Remus, your parents, your friends, and Dumbledore soon." I just nodded my head, still in shock. "I will give you some time alone to think." She got up and went back into her office, leaving me with my thoughts.

What was I going to do? I placed a hand on my stomach and the thought of another human being growing inside me almost made me pass out again. I didn't really know what I was going to do or how I was going to do it, but I knew one thing was for sure. I was not going to tell Remus, my parents, or anybody anything. I would eventually tell Dumbledore, but I was going to put that off as long as I could. Maybe no one would even notice. I could make it look like I was eating a lot of food and that I was just getting fat. Then when the time came for me to have the baby I would just say that I had surgery or something. Yeah, that seemed like a solid plan. Well, it was the only one I had so it would just have to do.

To time that followed Madame Pomfrey's news was literally tortured. I really didn't even want to think about it, but I was forced to. So many questions filled my mind. What if I was a bad mother? What if my kid hated me? Was it a boy or a girl? What would my parents say? I knew the answer to the last one. They would kill me, bring me back to life, and then kill me again. I looked forward to it.

After a while of thinking, I had a revelation. I hadn't planned on any of this. I never thought that this could ever happen. The thing that I realized was that, no matter how much I wanted this to go away, it wasn't going to. I was going to be a mom, a young mom, but I was going to be the best mom that I could be. And I knew that a good mom would man up right about now; I know my mom would. I was scared, I had no idea what to do, but I was going to do it. I was going to have this baby and I was going to do it with or without the support from anyone.

Madame Pomfrey reappeared and approached me slowly. "Ms. Parker," she said softly, "Have you had some time to think about what we talked about earlier." I nodded my head. "Well, now that you have hopefully processed this a bit, I would like to discuss some health related things to your situation." I sat up in my bed so that I could better see Madame Pomfrey. "I don't know how much knowledge you have on the subject, but there are some things you need to be aware of as you embark on this journey.

"I don't want to scare you, but at this point, whether you are ready or not, you are going to be a mother." That still sounded so strange. I was a month away from turning seventeen and I was already going to have a child. I always planned on having kids, I wanted a family, but I never thought that it would come so soon. I thought I would be older, already have a career, and happily married when I started a family; but everything was different now. My life was changing forever, and I hoped that it would somehow be a change for the good.

"First, there is a concern with you being so young. Even in muggle pregnancies there is a high risk for young pregnant women. However, with you being a magical being and the father being on as well, there is a good chance that your child will also be magical. With magical pregnancies, an additional risk is always posed. That is one of the main reasons, I believe, that you passed out. A magical pregnancy tends to take a lot out of the mother and you need to take care of yourself to ensure that your child is healthy." This was all a lot to take in.

"I am going to give you a few potions that are going to provide your body with the nutrients needed to sustain a healthy pregnancy and to hopefully have one that is void of complications. Now, you are about a month along, you will most likely still experience morning sickness." I nodded my head noting all the things that she was saying. "I want you to come and see me monthly and if you ever have questions or concerns, you are more than welcome to come and talk to me. However, you will eventually have to go to St. Mungo's as I am not equipped for the delivery of a baby. So, I will stress again that I recommend you tell Professor Dumbledore and your parents; also you should tell some of your friends, you are going to want some support through this."

"Thank you, so much," I told Madame Pomfrey. "I will definitely consider your advice, but right now, I don't think I can tell anyone."

"Lyla," she said leaning toward me, "I know that you are scared, I understand that. You are young and stuff like this isn't meant to happen. As scary as this is, you can make this a whole lot easier on yourself if you share some of the burden with those that care about you."

I closed my eyes and shook my head. "No matter who I tell, I'm still the one who has to go through this. And to me, right now, it just seems that it would be a lot easier if I go through this without other people passing judgment on me," I told her.

She placed a comforting hand on my arm. "Well, I may not be a lot of things, but I'm an excellent listener. And although, I'm probably not your first choice, I am available to you." I nodded my head as I began to tear up.

I suddenly began to laugh at myself. "Is being extremely emotional a side-effect?" I asked.

Madame Pomfrey gave me a smile. "Unfortunately it is my dear," she said.

"Fantastic," I said sarcastically. "As if girls weren't emotional enough already."

Madame Pomfrey nodded her head in agreement. "In closing, I just wanted to let you know that you can get out of here whenever you're ready."

I sat back and sighed in fear of having to see actual people. I didn't want to go back to the real world. "Can't I just stay in here forever?" I asked.

"No," she said with a smile, "You need to get back to your life." She turned and started to go back to her office. She stopped for a moment and then turned to face me. "Your situation is by no means ideal, but how this affects your life is entirely up to you. You can have a negative attitude and think that this means that your life is over." Well, that was extremely morbid. "Or," she said optimistically. Thank goodness there was another option. "Or, you can see this as the beginning of a whole new life, a new adventure. You're an extremely smart girl, Ms. Parker; I know that you are going to handle this beautifully." When she finished, she turned again and continued to her office.

As I left the hospital wing, Madame Pomfrey's words stuck with me. She was right; I could make this turn out anyway that I wanted it to. I was going to do this, and just like everything else, I was going to excel at it. I still wasn't going to tell anyone just yet but at least I had my head a little better on my shoulders.

When I arrived at entrance to the common room, I didn't enter I just stood there staring at the portrait. Okay I can do this. I just need to act like nothing's wrong. Granted, I didn't have the best track record at that, but I was starting a new life, and if I just believed that nothing was wrong then I would be convincing enough to get by. Just act normal and smile, no big deal. "Are you going to come in?" The Fat Lady asked, eyeing me curiously.

"Oh, yeah," I said nodding my head. I told her the password and the portrait swung open. I slowly climbed through the portrait hole and made my way into the common room.

"There she is," Sirius said excitedly as he saw me come around the corner. Everyone turned and greeted me with friendly smiles. I returned their smile. I went over to where we usually sit and took a seat next to Remus on our usual couch. Here it goes.

"What have you guys been up to?" I asked as Remus put his arm around my shoulders.

"Well, I didn't get to tell you this before," James said looking pleased, "But, while you were passed out; Madame Pomfrey said that I was finally released to play."

"James, that's wonderful, congratulations," I told him with a huge smile. Alexa rolled her eyes and scoffed. I gave her a questioning look.

"Alexa is angry because I told her we didn't need her on the team anymore," James said looking at Alexa with a smile.

"Yeah, that's what he says," Alexa said passionately. "But, we all really know that James was just so jealous of my mad skills that he couldn't take it anymore." I just shook my head and laughed. "I can't help but be awesome at everything I do."

"That was it, Alex," James said throwing me a wink. "I couldn't handle your skill."

"See, I told you," Alexa said shrugging her shoulders.

"So, James is clear to play, finally, Remus has recovered from the other night, and Lyla is back to new," Blair said. "No more hospitalizations for anyone. I cannot spend anymore time in there, it gives me the creeps." We all laughed. It was true though; we had spent quite a bit of time in the hospital wing lately.

"Agreed," Sirius said. "So, Lyls, did Madame Pomfrey ever say what exactly caused you to pass out?"

Stay calm. "I was just tired. Dehydrated. I have a cold," I rattled off quickly. Off to a great start. "A combination of all those things," I added with a cough. They all just looked back at me with odd expressions.

"Well," Alexa said, "Whatever it was it's good to have you back kid."

"Yeah," Sirius said, "You gave us quite a scare there, but now that you're back, we have the whole crew together once again. I love you guys."

For some reason, I started to tear up. What the hell was that about? This whole emotional pregnancy thing was going to suck. Even though it was stupid to be crying, I couldn't help it, it was just so sweet. I sucked in a quick breath to hide my tears but it was too late. "Lyla, are you okay?" Remus asked pushing my hair from my face.

I let out the breath I had taken and wiped away the tears on my face. "Yeah, I'm fine," I said waving them off.

"What is wrong with you?" Alexa asked curiously, as she leaned closer to me.

"Nothing," I told her. "I'm just touched by what Sirius said. It was very lovely."

"Yeah, Alexa, I'm a very touching guy," Sirius said patting me soothingly on the back. "Besides, she's been through a lot in the last day."

"You're just acting strange," she said. "You're acting as if you actually are pregnant," she said with a laugh. My heart stopped and I sat there frozen, my eyes wide. Keep it cool. Everyone got silent as they watched me. "What?" Alexa asked. I looked into Remus's eyes, which were watching me intently. "Too soon?" Well, that secret lasted.

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Baby Blue's Author's Note: Howdy! So what did you all think about that chapter? Excellent, right? As always, the drama is unfolding quite nicely in our opinion, but we'd love to hear your opinions on the story, the drama, or just if you want to drop in and say hey. So, click that little (or rather big now if you ask me) button and leave us some advice, a short one-liner, or anything else you think we need to hear. Love you guys!

Peace ;)


	31. The Uncomfortable Truth

Disclaimer: I don't own it. You don't own it. We don't own it. So who does? J.K. Rowling, that's who. And what a lucky lady she is.

Baby Blue's Author's Note: Well, here it is. Sorry that it's a bit late and that it's not as long as chapter 30 (because my co-author is beast and writes 12,000 word chapters) but I have been on vacation with said co-author and the beach has been calling my name. Anyways, shit is getting ready to hit the fan so make sure you pay attention to the details and don't miss anything! Thanks again to all the reviewers and the people who read and such. Do so again and to those who don't review religiously (myself included), drop us some love! Because we'd love some feedback! Thanks!

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"_The Uncomfortable Truth"_

_Alexa's Point of View_

Something was definitely wrong. It was Wednesday afternoon, a few days after the weekend mishaps, and Lyla hadn't yelled at me, told me to clean up my side of the room, or made sure that Sirius and I actually did our homework. If this hadn't been so out of character for my older sister, life would have been sweet. It was not, however, and things just kept getting weirder.

As Sirius walked me to Herbology that afternoon during his free period, I was lost in thought as he ambled on excitedly next to me. Ahead in the distance, James was walking next to Lily. The two looked to be bickering about something or another, and I saw Lily throw her arms out in front of her while the wind whipped back her long, fire-engine hair. I could only imagine James rolling his eyes while saying something sarcastic.

There was a slight nudge in my ribs, bringing me back to the present and I looked up to see Sirius's questioning gaze. Crap. Must not zone out while boyfriend is speaking. Thinking of something quickly, I smiled brightly and nodded my head enthusiastically. "Sure; that sounds like a brilliant idea."

The smug look on his face told me that I was going to regret what I had just said. "So you agree that we should runaway together and raise alpacas somewhere in South America?" Rolling my eyes, I shoved him a little with our entwined hands.

"You are so unfair. It's not like I was paying attention and you knew it." I retaliated as we reached the greenhouses where Professor Sprout was holding class today. It was actually a really nice day outside so the walk to the greenhouse hadn't been as bad as usual when it was about 30 degrees and snowing. "What were you really saying though?" I asked curious to know what I had missed out on now that the brooding portion of my day was over.

"Just about how weird everything's been lately. It's like there's something in the air that's different." Sirius looked around, the grounds of Hogwarts littered with students that were either skiving off to play in the March sunshine or had a free this period, like Sirius himself. I stood and faced Sirius while he looked back down at me. "Have you noticed all the weirdness between Lyla and Remus? They're acting," Pausing to think about it, I jumped in and supplied a word.

"Like they're being way too nice? I know what you mean," I stated while nodding to myself. "Lyla hasn't yelled at us for being late to class, or skipping curfew," I tallied off on my fingers while dropping Sirius's hand.

"And Remus hasn't gotten on my case about cleaning up my Quidditch gear, or hanging the towels up in the shower, or doing my homework," Sirius continued for me. We both looked at each other seriously for a moment and then Sirius cracked a smile. "Shouldn't this be our dream come true?" He asked confused as to why he wasn't making the most of it.

Nodding my head, I took his hands in mine and used his strength to pull myself onto my tiptoes to almost become eyelevel with the giant. "Why aren't we making the most of this time?" I asked him with a wink and he smirked while bringing his face within inches of my own. I stared into his deep gray eyes and my heart stuttered for a second before my aching calves make me slump back down.

"Sure Professor Sprout won't mind you missing the ever-thrilling Herbology class?" Sirius asked while we turned back around from Greenhouse 5 (Exotic Plants). Rolling my eyes, I cuddled up to his side and let him put his arm around me.

"I'm pretty sure whatever astoundingly amazing lesson she had planned for today would have been spent seeing how much dirt James and I could place in Lily's hair before she noticed, anyways." I responded. Sirius laughed and as we rounded the corner of the huge Birch tree between the castle and the greenhouses, a small girl practically fell from the sky.

Shrieking, I came up short while Sirius immediately reached out his arm so the girl in front of us wouldn't hit the ground as she fell backwards. "Whoa, there, Laura." He said in his deep voice and I watched as the girl blushed a bright red. When she brushed herself off, and my heart had stopped beating too fast, I took notice of the Hufflepuff girl. She was slightly shorter than myself, wearing her light chestnut hair (which was about the same color of my own before the blonde dye) in a short, chin-length bob, and her murky blue eyes were framed with thick lashes. All in all, she would have been cute. If she hadn't been on such friendly terms with my boyfriend.

"Sorry, Sirius!" She stuttered out while Sirius let go of her and she brushed her robes off slightly. A prefect badge hung from her lapel and her prim and proper uniform was in full regulation. Sirius waved her off and smiled widely at the younger girl.

"No problem, Laura. This is Laura Calloway." Sirius said introducing me to the girl who looked slightly like myself. It was awkward to say the least, but I stuck out my hand and shook her own. Her grip was strong and there was a slightly calculating look in her eye, but as I took a closer look it was gone and she was smiling shyly again. "And Laura this is," Sirius trailed off as she talked over him.

"Alexa Parker, Sirius Black's girlfriend of four months. Everyone knows who you are," She gushed and it was my turn to blush as she smiled proudly in front of me. I looked to Sirius, who shrugged and then turned back to Laura.

Like she had completely forgotten about me, she turned her blue eyes on Sirius and looked deeply enthralled as he talked. "What exactly brings you down to the greenhouses," He questioned, curious as to why the younger girl was here when the Professor was clearly teaching a class of sixth years. Laura looked down at the dirt beneath her perfectly shiny Mary-Janes and shrugged.

"Well, I take Herbology with the sixth years," She spoke softly. Running through all of the people in my class, I tried to place her in the class. When I couldn't, I turned my skeptical look on her. "I just transferred in because the fifth year class was too easy for me."

"So over halfway through the year the class suddenly got really easy for you?" I said, the sarcasm in my question leaking through on the last part. Sirius frowned at me and I shrugged slightly as Laura started to stutter.

"It's not, well, I mean," Taking pity on her, Sirius put a hand on her arm and smiled.

"No need to explain, Laura. Alexa here is just jealous because she wishes she was that cool." Setting my jaw, I reached over and smacked Sirius on the back of the head before smiling falsely at Laura, not caring if I looked like a bitch or not, and making my excuses to walk back up to the castle.

I was about halfway to my destination when I felt Sirius walk up beside me again. "Way to compliment your loving and adoring girlfriend, Black." I muttered and I could basically feel him roll his eyes.

"Which one, Parker?" He questioned innocently. Looking up at him, I raised my hand again and he held onto his hair for dear life. Sometimes, I swear, he loves his hair more than me. Which is just plain weird.

"You're right, which one indeed. Maybe I'll just go see what Davie Johnson is doing this period. He's sure to be a good time," I mused, watching Sirius's eyes narrow as I mentioned the notorious beater on the Hufflepuff team. And by notorious I meant with the 'hump and dump' mindset when it came to girls.

"Why must you hurt me in this way?" Sirius asked while trying to put his arm back around my shoulder. I ducked out of his hold and turned around to face him.

He raised an eyebrow and looked at me as we walked through the courtyard outside of the school. "Do you remember last Saturday when I said that if I had the energy I would fight you?" He nodded his head and I smiled sweetly. "Just making up for lost time, darling."

"I liked you better last Saturday," He said in a stroppy tone and it was my turn to roll my eyes. He then got a mischievous look on his face. "Which also reminds me, I have a present that must be bestowed upon Minnie and Albus."

We had reached the door in the courtyard that led to one of the many corridors in the castle and as he wrenched the door open for me, I shed my robes as we walked through the halls. "Please tell me that it is nothing that will be traced back to you."

"Marauder's honor," He said while crossing himself and winking at me.

"So in other words, you are going to blatantly lie to my face while you do something that would get normal people expelled but will only bring you and the 'marauders,'" Here I stopped and held my hands up to do fake quotations. "Eternal and shining glory."

Putting his hand on his chin in mock thinking, he looked into the distance. With a satisfied look, he then turned back to me. "Yes, that pretty much sums it up."

"Some days I'm not entirely sure why I put up with you." I said while starting to walk back to the Gryffindor tower where I knew Lyla would be. She had her free with Sirius this period and since she couldn't be with Remus and had nothing to do in the library, she had to be up there.

"I think you put up with me because you have the washboard abs privilege." He said with a knowing look as he slapped his stomach. I sighed for a moment, thinking about said body part, and then rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, that's it. That's definitely it." The sarcasm was practically tangible as I sent him a fake smile. "And why would it be that when I could get that with any other guy. Especially one that won't flirt with weird Hufflepuff first years."

"First of all, Laura is a fifth year. And secondly, I wasn't flirting with her. I was being kind to a fellow student. It's called building inter-house relations." Sirius defended himself while looking at me oddly.

Feeling the jealousy inside of me rear its head again, I took a deep breath. Why the hell was I so bent out of shape about this. "Okay, I'm sorry. It's just that she's weird. Who knows that much about someone they've only ever met a few times?" I asked slightly creeped out as I thought about this girl who was so familiar yet I couldn't place.

This time without me stopping him, Sirius put his arm around me as we came upon the Fat Lady's portrait. "Did you ever stop to think about the fact that maybe she admires you?" He spoke while looking down on me with earnest eyes. I sighed again and then shrugged.

"I guess, but I've never really had an admirer besides you. And then you only ever pulled my hair and caused me physical pain." I raised my eyebrows to see how the suddenly sheepish boy would reply.

"Well, it paid off in the end." With a quick kiss, he released me and began to walk back down the corridor. "I'm off to do mischief in thanks for the kind words bestowed upon the Marauders last morrow." His voice took on his 'Ye ol' English' accent as he misused words and got away with it.

I waved goodbye and pretended to curtsey. "Don't skip muggle studies! You may learn something valuable." I called after him. Then I made a face. "Nevermind; too much like Lyla. Skip class and maraud to your hearts content."

"I shall see thou at the convening feast!" He called back. Rolling my eyes at his antics, I turned to the Fat Lady who was watching me curiously. "Pride," I told her, thanking the heavens that the password was easy to remember this time. She swung open and I climbed through the portrait hole before entering the baron wasteland that was our common room. Making my way up to the dorms, I walked into the sixth year's and searched around for my sister.

I was about to open my mouth to announce myself when I heard an awful sound from the bathroom. Walking closer to the closed door, I heard what sounded like wretching and then crying. Opening the door had my breath catching as Lyla laid over the lavatory with her hair in a messy bun and her make-up running.

"Holy shit, Lyls! What's wrong?" I exclaimed rushing over to her to help her into a sitting position on the wall. She was breathing heavily as someone would after having just heaved their last seven meals through their throat and I grabbed a cup off the sink and filled it with water. She took it gratefully and with a small sip began to hack up her lungs.

When she was through coughing, she opened her mouth to speak but instead leaned back over the commode to heave again. Rubbing soothing circles on her back, I tried to recall the words our mum would say when we were sick that always made us feel better. "It's going to be okay. Just let it out." I uttered over and over until she was done.

Finally, she flushed the commode and leaned back against the wall, her face flushed and a fine sheen of sweat across her forehead. Pointing at her cabinet, she motioned for me to open it. When I did so, I was shocked to see all the potion bottles. She directed me to a deep purple one that smelled like fruit and I handed it to her while she poured a small measurement and downed it.

With a sigh, she capped the bottle and took another sip of the water. When she looked back up at me, I put my hands on my hips and raised my eyebrows. "Spill it, sister." I demanded.

"Help me up and I will." She rasped out. Abandoning my bitch stance, I helped her back into her bed and then conjured a fresh cup and cold water, then got a cool washrag to put on her head. When she was situated, I sat on the side of her bed; far enough to not catch whatever she had, but close enough to comfort her.

"Okay, now what the heck is going on? Is this why you haven't been on my case this past week and why you've looked so shitty every time I see you?" I rattled off, trying to get as much in before she cut me off.

"I just haven't been feeling well. All the added stress of the year is taking its toll on me and Madame Pomfrey said that this would happen. The potions are to make sure that I don't get depressed and to make my stomach calm down." Lyla ticked off as she answered all of my questions and more. "And speaking of not being on your case, why aren't you down at the greenhouses right now? Don't you have Herbology?"

Flushing, I bit my lip and tried to think of an excuse. "Well, that's neither here nor there." I said quickly. Yes, way to think on your feet.

"So Sirius talked you out of going to Herbology and then went off to break Remus free so they could do bad things while you checked on me." She said in a knowing voice and I frowned. Foiled again.

"You could say that." I tried to play off. Rolling her eyes, Lyla turned on her side before taking off the wet towel on her forehead. "Really, though, are you going to be okay?" She looked really pale, but other than that she didn't look like she was going to spill her guts on the floor or anything.

Nodding, Lyla pulled her covers up around her. "I'll be find, Alex. I just need to lay down for a little while and let my stomach settle. You don't have to baby-sit me, you know, I'm sixteen." The smile she wore softened her words and I smiled while rubbing her back again as she closed her eyes.

I knew she wasn't asleep so I answered her. Even though she was my sister it was hard to sometimes be so candid when she turned her sharp gaze on you. "I know that, Lyls. But even if you weren't my friend, you're still my older sister and I love you. I can't leave you to be sick all by yourself. And you can always talk to me, you know that right?"

It was a rhetorical question, but suddenly Lyla was tearing up and sniffling. Starting to get worried I jumped up to get her whatever she needed, not sure exactly where this mothering instinct came from, but she waved me off. "I'm sorry. It's just the nerves and stress making me so emotional." There was something not right about that sentence, but I let it slide as I sat back down and laid down next to my sister.

"So, can I talk to you about something then if you keep saying you're fine?" I asked her. The bed shifted as she turned to lay on her back and we both stared at the pattern on her canopy. "What exactly do you know about this Laura Calloway girl?"

"I knew this being nice to me thing had an ulterior motive." Lyla laughed and my face heated up in embarrassment. Stopping for a moment to think, she answered me after a short while. "Okay, well, she's a fifth year Hufflepuff prefect, though I can't recall seeing her at any meetings. She hangs out in the library mostly. And she basically knows everything there is to know about the Marauders."

"And you don't think the fact that we've never seen her around is weird at all?" I questioned and Lyla raised an eyebrow at me.

"Do you really find it that surprising that you don't recognize anything? You're either always with Sirius and making everyone gag by the whole 'we used to hate each other but were really in love' thing or you're up in the clouds with Blair." She mimicked the face I made when I was daydreaming or just plain zoning out. It was my turn to raise my eyebrows.

"That's a terrible impersonation of me, but I'll allow it." Pausing for a moment, I tried to think of something else to say about how this foreboding feeling I had when it came to Laura. "Well, maybe those things are true but she said she was in my advanced Herbology class and I know I haven't ever seen her there."

The triumphant look on my face was quickly wiped away when Lyla scoffed. "The class that you are skipping right now? Once again, I wouldn't be surprised that you always miss her. Plus, aren't you and James partners in that class? Which would lead one to believe that most of the class is a dirt war."

Sighing, I folded my arms across my chest. "So that is completely feasible as well. But come on! There is something wrong with that girl. She's just creepy, okay?" I was getting exasperated. First, she is all buddy-buddy with Sirius. Now, my sister, my own flesh and blood, had jumped on the Calloway bandwagon. Next, the rest of my friends would jump on and leave me at the station.

"Alexa," Lyla said sitting up slowly and bringing her knees up to her chest, "Laura is not creepy. She's just a little overzealous. Remember that she doesn't talk to many people so when Sirius and James complimented her she kind of just jumped at the opportunity. Besides, you didn't think she was such a big threat in the library Saturday."

"What is with everyone bringing up how I acted on Saturday? You guys must really hate me," I sighed while sending my eyes heavenward. Lyla fixed me with a look so I stopped and returned to the original topic. "Well, maybe I wasn't concerned with her on Saturday. I was a little busy trying to figure out who started the rumor that I was pregnant."

At the word pregnant, Lyla's face paled considerably and I looked at her oddly for a moment before frowning. "You don't think that it could be Laura that started the rumor about me, right? I mean I know that she's infatuated with Sirius and that she's slightly creepy, but she's not really one of those psycho fan girls. Or at least she didn't seem that far over the deep end." I was rambling and we both knew it but Lyla seemed much better.

"I can't confirm anything except for the fact that you are once again looking for a way out," Lyla sing-songed. I basically laughed in her face while standing up from her bed and looking at the clock.

"We're in this for the long haul." I said talking about Sirius and I. Waving somewhere in the direction of where he could possibly be in the castle, I stretched and then straightened my rumpled uniform. "I mean, I figure if I have put up with him for this long than what else could we possibly have to go through?" Knowing this would somehow come back to haunt me viciously and without repose, I knocked on the wooden bedpost by Lyla's bed.

"You better hope you didn't just ruin your future." Lyla said in a slightly bitter tone and I raised my eyebrows at her. "I know, I know;" She said while walking into the bathroom to most likely take a shower before dinner. "Cyanide and razor blades are in the closet."

"That's my girl," I yelled in after her as she shut the door and the water turned on. Walking over to my bed, I pulled my bag from my trunk and gathered up some of my supplies for this lovely, bull-crapped essay that would be due in Divination next Monday. I had just finished my second paragraph when Lyla came out of the bathroom freshly cleaned and ready to at least catch the tail end of her Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

Technically it was now my free period so I waved to her as she shoved on her shoes and grabbed her bag off the floor. Looking like she was feeling better, she surveyed my side of the room, lifting her nose imperiously at the dirty clothes I hadn't bothered to send to the house elves. "While I'm gone would it be too much trouble for you to live like you have at least a semblance of cephalization?" She asked me with a cheeky grin.

Rolling my eyes, I muttered an incantation and sent a few of my socks into the correct hamper. Grinning sarcastically, if that was even possible, I waved to Lyla who walked from the room and shut the door. After a few minutes of mindless predicting of how everyone in my class would be hit by a drunk hippogriff and somehow reach an untimely demise, I rolled up the parchment and hopped off my bed.

Running a brush through my short hair and checking my roots, which thanks to the special dye hadn't started to grow back in yet, I put my shoes back on. Leaving them unlaced, I stowed my wand in my shirt pocket under my sweater and walked to the Common Room. As expected, James was sitting on one of the couches facing the bright windows that decorated the tower.

"How art thou today, Messer Potter?" I asked while jumping over the couch arm and landing ungracefully beside him. Meaning that as I fell, I collided with him which jolted him from his intense staring. He grunted out a hello and I snatched the paper from his hands much to his disliking. "Potter Quidditch Sets," I read off in a pompous voice.

"We have a match against Hufflepuff in two days, Alex. So if you would kindly release those into my care," James ran a hand through his hair, looking ready to pull it out in stress, and held his free hand out towards me.

"Only if you'll lighten up just a smidgen," The grimace he gave me was less than sub par but I took it because he was at least putting up the effort. "The team will be fine, though, James. I mean, come on, it's Hufflepuff." I stressed and he looked back over to me with a worried expression.

"That's exactly the attitude I fear!" He cried out and began to scribble something down furiously. "If the team isn't in perfect condition and we lose because I've thrown off the balance somehow I'll never hear the end of it and Sirius will become Quidditch captain!"

I literally laughed at his last rambling and clutched my side as I fell back into the couch. At the raised eyebrow I was receiving from my hazel-eyed friend, I explained. "Sirius couldn't take that much responsibility seriously; he'd just laugh about it and the job would eventually fall back to you. He wouldn't even want it either." I laughed a little more and looked back at my still harried friend. "Plus, I doubt I was even an asset for the _one_ game I was in, Jam-Jam."

"Don't call me that," He uttered in an all-suffering voice. I smiled finally when he gave me a relieved grin. 'I guess you're right. I wasn't out that long and my depth perception and such have come back full force. What about all your talk of greatness?"

"Well, I suppose to be great at something you have to play it up a little. How else would anyone become famous? You think Merlin just ate some peanut butter and was called great? No, he ate that peanut butter and made it his bitch, then made some story of how he planted the first ever peanut plant and defended it!" James looked at me like I was crazy, which albeit he was probably right.

"I'm pretty sure it was George Washington Carver that started all that, not Merlin." He said in a skeptical tone and I rolled my eyes.

"It's for example, Potter, not to be taken as fact." I said while leaning back into the couch and watching as he continued to work on his strategy. I was just beginning to think about going back up to the dorm to grab my Potion things for the essay that I had to write, which was unfortunately due tomorrow, when Sirius and Remus burst into the Common Room and began to stack furniture up in front of the door. James continued to completely ignore everything that wasn't on the sheet of paper in front of him but curious, I got up to see what was going on.

It was like a race between the two boys to see how much furniture they could get in front of the door before the other. "Hey, guys," I said casually as I leant up against the wall next to the portrait hole they were blocking.

"Hey, Alexa," Remus said working vigorously as he moved an ottoman from the other side of the couch near the door. I continued to watch as slowly but surely the furniture in the room became less and less compared to what was stacked up against the door. As the two boys began to move a couch, I pushed off the wall and sat down on the couch they were moving.

Sirius looked at me with wide eyes while Remus fidgeted nervously. "So, babe, it would be great if you could possibly get yourself up so we can move the couch." Sirius said with a smile, trying to coax me into doing what he wanted. Ignoring the charm he was likely to pull out and use to reel me into doing what he wanted, I looked behind me to Remus as I made myself comfortable.

"Remus, would you like to tell me what is going on here?" Looking at my raised eyebrows, Remus looked to Sirius and then back to me vigorously shaking his head no.

"Well, Alexa, I would love to tell you but right now I can't do that or it would put you in grave social danger." He smiled quickly and then they began to move the couch again. They weren't making the same progress they would have been making if I hadn't been on top of the couch but they were still moving so I crossed my legs Indian style and stayed put.

When they realized that I wasn't going to get up and move anytime soon, and that it would just be faster to tell me what was going on, they dropped the couch unceremoniously. "You can't get mad if we tell you what's going on," Sirius explained while he literally picked me up and hauled me over to where James was. I waited semi-patiently for them to be satisfied with the blockade, which was completed with another side table and chair.

Sirius sat down on the seat next to me, putting his arm around my shoulders as I put my legs across his lap and leaned on him. Remus took the seat across from us and when I looked at both boys they were smiling widely. Nudging Sirius with my hand, I looked at him with wide eyes so he would tell his story of debauchery.

"Oh, right," He sat up a little straighter, putting his hands on my calves. "So it's starts out where I went and got Remus from his pointless Ancient Ruins class, because really, why would you want to sit around and study symbols all day? Anyways, we decide that sending Minnie and Albus a fruit basket would be an excellent idea."

"I totally forgot about the most high compliment they gave us," James said finally looking away from his strategy sheet. Sirius nodded his head in agreement and made his eyes really wide. Putting the paper down, James folded his arms and began to tune into the tale.

"We decided that a fruit basket just wouldn't cut it anymore, so we charmed the fruit into little animal shapes that would sing and dance." Sirius continued while I watched as Remus's face turned into a devious smile.

"And then we decided that it would be a good idea to use this idea except instead of singing and dancing, the fruit would torment people." Remus said. I couldn't help but roll my eyes while James leaned in and became engrossed in what would soon turn into the Slytherin's having another prank pulled on them. "So we took the fruit basket down to the Slytherin Common Room and left it outside of their door with a lovely little note signed by their secret admirers."

I sighed before sitting up straight and shoving Sirius in the shoulder for good measure. "And let me just assume who's idea this was." I tried to sound mad, when really I was enjoying this tale just about as much as James. Sue me but I loved a good prank every once in a while. House pride and all that.

Sirius looked scandalized while Remus adorned a nice little pink tint on his cheeks. "Actually, Alexa, it was I that came up with the plan to prank the Slytherins." James gasped at his friend who blushed deeper and then shrugged his shoulders. I, on the other hand, was just shocked that the 'good' marauder would have anything to do with a prank like this.

There was a loud thump on the door and then more than just a few voices yelling to open up. "That would be the Slytherins coming to get us then." Sirius said slapping his hands down on my legs and standing up to get a better gist of what was going on outside.

"Let me just assume that the note was signed by the Marauders or something like 'Your Gryffindor Admirers.' Or would that be too much?" I said annoyed that we were now stuck in the Common Room once again because someone in the school was after the Marauders.

"You really just know us too well, don't you?" Remus asked cheekily and I rolled my eyes while hopping up from my seat. I guess if I was going to be stuck in the Common Room for the rest of the night I should probably do some of my homework.

"Welcome to the final match of the season before the Quidditch Cup!" Lyla greeted the crowd with gusto as we sat in the Quidditch stands Saturday afternoon. It was seasonably warm for March, but I reveled in the fact that I could wear just a long-sleeved shirt and jeans instead of layering on jackets, sweaters, coats, scarves, gloves, and a warming charm. As Blair and I cheered on the Gryffindor team as they flew out onto the pitch, Lyla announced the players.

"Go James!" Blair yelled as he landed on the ground and shook hands with the Hufflepuff Captain. I had admittedly never seen James look so determined in his life. So much so that he looked like he was going to break the other poor captain's hand. "Do you think he's taking this match a bit too seriously?" Blair asked me as he mounted his broom and flew up into the sky to fix Remus's position in front of the goals.

We watched as Remus and James argued for a moment before Remus just nodded and James flew back to the middle to await the first quaffle toss. "He may be just a little stressed that they aren't going to win this game and it is his first game back and all." I told Blair who nodded nervously while tugging at the frayed end of her blue jean skirt.

"But it's Hufflepuff," Lyla said cupping the mouth of the megaphone away from her so as to not have it picked up and projected to the crowd. I shrugged my shoulders and looked back out over the pitch where I could see Sirius circling around with the Hufflepuff beater. "And the first quaffle possession goes to Gryffindor Captain Potter. James takes it down the pitch, giving a good side toss to McKinnon who dodges a bludger and sends it to the hoops. And it's knocked away by Hufflepuff keeper John Ash."

I groaned as the events of the Quidditch match began to unfold in front of our eyes. The Gryffindor team was doing all right, definitely not their best, but that was to be expected because Hufflepuff was doing surprisingly well. James finally called a short time out and called his team to the middle. Carry made it to the pitch about two minutes after the rest of the team, looking like she was about to punch James right in the face.

"Looks like Carry is going to attack James," I told Blair and Lyla while we watched her start poking James in the chest and throwing her hands around. Sirius and Gideon Prewitt pulled the small girl away from James who looked furious and was yelling back and forth as well.

"And it appears that there is a small argument happening between two members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. I hope James knows what he's doing with his team." Lyla said practically sending James the warning before Madame Hooch had to penalize our team with foul shots because of fighting. "When the game resumes, it will be Hufflepuff's quaffle with the score remaining tied at 40 – 40."

Sirius flew by shortly after the time out was over, and hovered near the edge of the announcing box for a few minutes. "Carry knew where the snitch was, Lyla. That's why she was so mad. And James wants you to stop helping the Hufflepuff team out by stroking their egos every five minutes." Then before he left, Sirius winked at me knowing he would be heard over the loud speaker. "Alexa put your shirt back on. You'll have to wait until the match is over to do that."

"Black!" I yelled out while rushing over to the edge of the box to slap at him. He winked again before flying off as McGonagall came storming up the stairs. Taking the megaphone from Lyla, I began to shout into it. "Sirius Black you better hope you win this match or I will make your life a living hell for years to come. You have better not expect a congratulations or anything else from me for at least a week!"

It was McGonagall's turn to pull the megaphone from me. "That will be two Friday detentions for social misconduct, Mr. Black." She said while following Sirius around the pitch with her eyes as I fumed silently next to her.

"Professor!" Blair said in an excited voice and began to jump up and down as she pointed wildly at the pitch. I followed her pointing finger and saw Carry fall into a dive, swinging around the pitch at a very fast pace. Taking the microphone back, Lyla smiled politely and then began to talk very rapidly. "And just as Potter pulls his arm back to throw the quaffle, Carry Grant has caught the snitch!"

The crowd went wild as Madame Hooch called the game, Gryffindor winning 300 – 40. As Lyla announced the final score and the tally of the points, Blair and I rushed to the bottom of the announcing tower. Rushing out to the pitch, I looked around wildly for Sirius and James. Seeing Remus still in the air hovering next to where Lyla was standing about halfway out of the stands.

"So I won, does that mean you're stripping?" Sirius asked as he came up behind me. Jumping up and down, I turned around and jumped into his arms. Kissing him quickly on the cheek, I put my arms around his neck and smiled, as he looked just about as happy as James who was standing in the middle of the pitch with Blair.

"You guys won!" I couldn't help but celebrate and laugh while Sirius nodded his head and laughed at how giddy I was acting. "This calls for a party, yes?" I asked him and he got that mischievous look on his face.

"It does indeed."

After celebrating some more and then having James usher all of his team into the locker room for a post game wrap-up, we met up with Lyla and then made our way up to the castle to get ready for the post-game party. It was actually really the only reason that we came to these games because without the party, what would be the incentive to win? Nothing, that's what.

Using our wand to levitate the chairs, couches, and tables out of the way, we made a place where the food and snacks and such could be while there was room to dance and couches to hang out on. "Promise me that you won't let me make a complete fool of myself tonight." Blair said while putting the finishing touches on the colored banners she had hung up. I looked up at her from my spot on the couch where I had posted up after being no help at all and tried to raise an eyebrow.

"Are you going to be alright?" Lyla asked me while I struggled and then gave up. Sticking my tongue out at me, I made room where my feet were so she could have a seat. Letting out a huge sigh, she propped her feet up on the table in front of her and fidgeted with her sweat pants.

"Shut the hell up," I instructed her while rolling my eyes. She laughed and then closed her eyes and I ignored my sister to address Blair. "Why would you make a complete fool out of yourself when you never even drink?"

Blair looked a bit sheepish and looked out the window of the deserted Common Room. Everyone was basically still outside celebrating in the sunshine while we were stuck inside making the Common Room presentable for the party that was sure to come. "I think that James and I are ready to take it to the next level in our relationship."

It was simply stated and Lyla and I both popped up and sat at attention. "Are you serious, Blair? This is like the biggest decision you'll make in your life." I said with emphasis. Blair shrugged sheepishly and then brought her knees up so she could rest her chin on them. Lyla and I said nothing while Blair looked at us and after a while began to speak again.

"I'm pretty sure this is where we're going next. What else is their left for us to do? I mean we've already been together for so long and even if we have taken a break it doesn't mean that I don't love him." She began to argue with herself for a moment and I smiled a bit. She sounded like I did when I was ranting to Lily after Sirius and I had gone the whole nine yards.

"Blair," I interrupted her, "You don't have to reason with Lyla and I. We understand where you're coming from seeing as we are both in love and have experienced the same doubts you're going through." She looked at me quizzically for a moment and then rolled her eyes. "You're right; too philosophical. Do you want to jump James's bones or what? With Lyla acting so much like me lately I had to pick up her 'let me help you' mentality. "

"There's the Alexa we all know and love." Lyla said from her spot on the couch. Blair and I giggled a bit and I tickled my sister a little with my toes. "I haven't been much help lately, I know. But Blair just promise me that if you do think you're ready that you'll do everything you can to protect yourself from the possibilities of things that could happen."

Sharing a look, Blair and I moved closer to Lyla who was twirling her promise ring on her finger. The stones glistened in the light and I took her fidgeting hand in my own. "Lyls, is this why you've been so stressed out and stuff lately? Are you still worried about how the whole 'I thought I was pregnant' bit will mess with your relationship with Remus? Because we were all there when he said no matter what it was going to be okay."

Lyla shrugged while looking at us. "I guess things just haven't gone back to normal for me yet. And there's something that I need to tell you all." She said while bringing herself up into a fully seated position and putting her feet on the floor. "I hate keeping these things from you but I thought it would be best and now I really need to tell someone before I explode."

My eyes widened while I thought of all the possibilities of what she could say. Lyla opened her mouth to speak when the Common Room door burst open and a crowd pushed into the room. While the cheering and everything began to drown everything out, Lyla widened her eyes and shut her mouth. "You could always tell us later," Blair offered looking just as concerned as I felt. Lyla put her palms to her eyes for a moment, then took a deep breath. After nodding her head, she stood up quickly.

"I'm going to go find Remus." She said and quickly dispersed. Blair and I stood to look at where she had gone and then turned towards each other.

"Something is going on between the two of them." I said with a sigh. Blair nodded her head and then crossed her arms over her chest. Someone in the room started a gramophone and as music poured into the room, I spotted Sirius and James filling up the punch bowl. "What are we going to do about it?"

"There really isn't anything we can do about it right now, is there?" She asked and I nodded my head. Really there wasn't anything we could do until Lyla told us what was going on and I had a feeling that, like my mum, Lyla would hold it in until she almost had a panic attack and then would fill us in. "This royally sucks."

Wordlessly, I nodded my head. Then I pointed towards the direction of our boyfriends who looked like they were having a bit too much fun with the snack food. "Shall we?" I questioned and Blair shrugged while a slight blush lit upon her cheeks.

"Which reminds me," She whispered as we walked towards them. "Keep your own activities to the Girl's dorms tonight, alright?" I narrowed my eyes, trying to read her lips seeing as she was whispering in a din of noise. She looked at me expectantly and so I gave up and nodded my head. I didn't think Sirius and I were going to be having that much fun anyways.

"Fair maidens!" I heard as we approached. Handing me a plastic cup, Sirius bent down and kissed my cheek while wrapping his arm around my waist. Smiling at him, I took a sip of whatever had been poured into my cup and grimaced only slightly at the taste of cherry cough syrup.

James smiled mischievously at me as he handed Blair a cup of her own. "Our own special concoction. In honor of the fact that we are going to the final match! That Quidditch cup is ours!" He and Sirius high-fived and then laughed loudly while someone around us started cheering.

Taking another drink from my cup, I began to feel the warmth so often associated with alcohol begin to spread throughout my body. Laughing quickly, I remembered the last time that we had had a party for Quidditch. While most of the night had been a hazy mess, the fact that I was so worried that my owl, Cleopatra a.k.a. Cleo, would find out and never bring me mail stood out very clearly. Because I loved receiving mail.

Sirius took my hand and we began to weave in and out of the crowds. At one point we were stopped by a less than half dressed Ravenclaw who had been let in. Luckily for Sirius and the girl, he very swiftly ducked out and introduced her to Gideon Prewitt, a seventh year on the Quidditch team, and we were spared from a smack down.

"You know, everyone is ready to take you to the gallows for drinking while pregnant. They already were hoping the kid was going to get my genes." Sirius said cheekily and I smacked him on the chest. Grabbing my hand, he took it up and kissed the back like a true gentleman.

"Piss off. I hope everyone realizes that I am not, in fact, pregnant and they will all step out of my business." Sirius saw my frustrated expression and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into his chest. I took a deep breath, the clean smell of soap and cologne filling my senses and calming down. "And just so you know you should pray they get my genes and not yours if we were to ever have kids."

Biting my lip, I chanced a glance up at him while praying what I had just said didn't freak him out. I mean, it freaked me out. I wasn't ready to have kids yet. For Merlin's sake, we were just sixteen. There was a tense second and then he burst into laughter. At my questioning look, he explained. "I've been trying for six years to get you to admit that you wanted to carry my children."

Pulling back from my comfortable position, I held up my drink. "It's the alcohol speaking." I said with a smile. Rolling his eyes, he continued to lead me towards the more quiet end of the Common Room where Peter and a few of our other friends were located. Sitting down, I looked around at the people sitting down. Marlene smiled at me quickly, while flipping a knut into a cup. Laughing, she pointed to the other Prewitt brother, Fabian, who drank from his cup with a grimace.

"Come to test your luck with quarters, Pads?" Peter asked in his squeaky voice. Sirius gave a gallant bow and sat down next to me while draping his arms across my shoulder. There was slightly familiar laughter from next to Fabian and I looked to see Laura Calloway smiling at us. "Laura here is quite good for being a Hufflepuff."

"They may take a beating in Quidditch but they can hold their own with alcohol." Fabian said with a slight slur from between Marlene and Laura. Rolling her eyes, Marlene passed the knut (not exactly a quarter, I thought) to Sirius who leaned forward and angled up.

"Fabian here is quite terrible, actually." Marlene said while ruffling up his auburn hair. He swung around to look at her and then winked jauntily.

"And Marls here just can't keep her hands off of me when it comes to handling her alcohol." With a whoop, Sirius sank the knut into the cup and looked around deviously. With a smile, he flicked the cup in my hand.

"Drink up there, Alex." He said sneaking a quick wink at me. Grimacing, I took a drink of what I had named the cough syrup from hell. I fought past my initial gag reflex and then took the knut from my loving boyfriend. Assuming I could just flick I into the wide brim of the cup, I grossly over estimated my throw and it landed across the way in Laura's lap. Frowning, I swallowed another drink and settled in for what was sure to be a bad idea. Eventually, our group of six grew to about twelve as Remus, Lyla, James, Blair, and some of the Quidditch team joined us. Things had just started to spin around me when Lyla started to look a little green and got up to get some air.

"Sirius and I will join you," I said not only to keep and eye on my sister but to remove Sirius from Laura's presence as she had started to make googly eyes at him again. Lyla smiled and rolled her eyes as Sirius and I struggled to get off the floor where we had been removed too after everyone said we were getting too 'loving.'

When we exited the throng of students and had made our way out into the hallway, Sirius slumped up against the wall where he put his head between his legs. I, however, was feeling no pain as I spun around in a circle while the room spun in the opposite direction. When the room finally righted itself, and the ringing in my ears had stopped, I made my way over to Sirius who was looking up at me with a smile. I tried to grab his hand but instead felt cool rock against my fingers. Trying again with the same result, I looked down at my empty hand and then heard chiming laughter from across the hall.

This alerted me to my sister's presence again and I whipped around to have the world spin again. "Lyla, it would be wonderful if you would stop spinning." I informed my laughing sister while I slurred and spun before landing on my ass on the ground. "Man down!" The funniness of the situation dawned on me and I began to laugh loudly and maniacally. Slapping a hand over my mouth, Sirius looked at me with his pretty gray eyes.

"We'll be caught out here if you continue to act a fool." He said with a broad smile and I lay my head on his shoulder while closing my eyes. "Oh, don't roll your eyes, Lyls. You know that I'll always hold a special place in my heart for you. After all, you are my best friend and therefore you have different privileges. For example, I don't give Alexa best friend hugs just like you don't give Remus best friend hugs."

"Because Remus and Lyla give each other sexy hugs!" I spouted and then giggled. Opening my eyes, I saw Lyla smiling and rolling her eyes at the two of us. Not finding anything about my astute revelation funny, I rolled my eyes at her. "Really though, Lyla, what is wrong with you lately? You have no funny bone anymore."

Sighing, my sister looked at Sirius and I with a conflicted expression. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you because you're not going to remember anything tomorrow morning. And it would be great to tell someone if just for a second." We looked at her expectantly and she closed her eyes when she spoke. "I actually am going to have a child because I really am pregnant."

For a second, my whole world stopped and I was sober again. Looking at my sister, I felt like I had been slapped in the face. Because now I didn't see a carefree sixteen year old maybe just a little too composed at times; instead she was a scared little girl getting ready to become a mother too soon. It took all of three seconds before my head started ringing again and things went back to how they were before she broke the news. Suddenly, everything was just extremely funny.

"That's not true, Lyls. Don't you remember what everyone said? Sirius and I are the ones who are pregnant. Of course, he's a boy and can't have babies," This too was also very funny and I laughed while Lyla looked as if a huge burden had been lifted off her chest. Sirius, however, was being too quiet. Grabbing his hand for real this time, I drug him into a standing position. "Before sour pus ruins all the fun, we're going back inside. But you're secret is safe with us. I won't remember anything tomorrow!"

Lyla gave us a short wave and then stood up as well. Muttering the password to the sleeping portrait, it swung open automatically and we walked through. As an idea popped into my head, I turned Sirius in the direction of the dorms. He looked at me with a grin and I blushed as he squeezed my hand. Wracking my brain, I tried to remember whether Blair mentioned the boy's or the girl's dorms.

Using the fail proof method of blind choosing, I let Sirius drag me to the Boy's dorms. We made it about halfway up the stairs before the hormones took over and I had an unwavering need to make sure his shirt was gone. Giggling uncontrollably made snogging hard, but the edge of Sirius' t-shirt was slowly creeping up and over his head. Getting tired of the distractions, Sirius scooped me into his arms and carried me the rest of the way to his dorm.

We made it to his four-poster, shedding clothes as we went when the door to the dorm burst open. Letting out shriek, I whipped around to see James and Blair in the same position we had been just moments before. "Shit!" James yelled out, covering his eyes as we all stood there. "This is the second time I've had to see your girlfriend without clothes!"

Blushing I covered myself as Blair dragged our asses out of the door and then glared at me. "I told you to stay in the girl's dorms," She sighed before putting her fingers to her eyes and then pointing them at both of us. The door slamming shut was extremely loud as Sirius and I started to laugh uncontrollably. Banging back on the door, I rolled my own eyes.

"I'm going to have to have a shirt!" I called out and sweatshirt came flying at me. I put on the sweater, the name BLACK emblazoned in bold print on the back, and then looked at Sirius. He too rolled his eyes and the picked me up again, carrying me to the Girl's dorms where we kicked off our shoes, climbed into bed, and promptly fell asleep.

"Good morning, Dream Ruiners!" I groaned as my head pounded in time with my heartbeats. The arm around my waist pulled me closer as the curtains to the bed were pulled back in and an abnormal amount of sunlight filtered in. Then the covers were ripped off and I was pulled even closer to the warm body next to me.

"Blair," I whispered my voice scratchy and dry, "You are such a bitch."

There was a cheery laugh from somewhere and then a door opened. "You two put some clothes on and then suffer in the misery of those hangovers. Join us in the Common Room when you're ready." With that, the door slammed and Sirius groaned loudly. Letting out my breath, I ignored the way my stomach was rolling and cracked an eye open to look at myself. I was devoid of pants, except my knickers, and wearing Sirius' sweatshirt. The boy in question was wearing his boxers and high black knee socks.

The situation was albeit a little funny, but my head hurt too much to laugh so I settled with a smile. Lifting my head a bit, I kissed the slightly stubbled jaw of the ebony haired boy next to me and giggled when he cracked an eyeball open.

"This is the choice way to wake-up." He muttered in a gravelly voice. Rolling my eyes, I slid from his grasp and stood up while trying to keep my stomach calm. "And now you've left me to freeze to death."

"Oh, don't be such a girl. I'm going to take a shower and then go downstairs to retrieve a hangover potion." Sirius rolled onto his back, his hair mussed from sleeping, bringing his arm over his eyes and sighing. I lingered for a few seconds more, staring at the washboard abs that were my downfall, and then walked into the bathroom. By the time I was finished showering and had changed into my clothes, Sirius was back and laying in my bed again. This time, however, he was wearing clothes and his hair was clean.

"Finally," He said as he hopped up off the bed and walked towards the door that would take us downstairs. "So why is Blair calling us dream ruiners?" He asked and I shrugged while walking down the stairs, almost completely revitalized now that I was clean.

"To be honest with you I can barely remember most of last night." With a small grin, I composed my face into one of confusion. "Who are you again?"

Sirius gave me a cheeky grin and then grabbed my hand, swinging it as we walked out of the Common Room. "Just the guy who is responsible for giving you the best babies ever." I rolled my eyes at the delusional boy and then had somewhat of a flashback. Through the haze of my memory, I remembered sitting down on the cold floor and hearing Lyla say something about pregnancy.

Shaking my head, I continued to walk back down the stairs leading to the Great Hall. We had finally made it to our seats, where Remus graciously handed us a hangover potion, when I saw Lyla was not drinking her first cup of tea.

"_Developing fetuses get nutrients from the mother through the umbilical cord so it is proper for a mother to eat healthily, avoiding foods with caffeine, iron, and other harsh minerals."_

"Alexa, are you alright?" The voice in question belonged to Lyla who was looking at me with a concerned expression. I nodded my head and then poured some orange juice into my cup. Something was going on with me today and I was sure it was from dehydration and lack of nutrients. After breakfast I would be fine.

I looked over to Sirius, who was looking at Lyla with a concerned expression and then back at my own food. Maybe he was thinking the same thing as me. Maybe I hadn't imagined these weird revelations after all. And just maybe I was flying off the handle like usual.

* * *

Amulet Girl's Author's Note: That was just lovely wasn't it. As my dear co-author said, the beach was doing everything in its power to distract her from her writing duties. But, no fear, I made her promise she would have this done by the end of the trip and here it is. I also would like to point out that she decided to write this rather than her seven to ten page research paper that is due in two days; so props go to her for her dedication to this story and for her intense case of Senioritis. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I will try to get the next one up as soon as possible. Oh, and please review! Peace.


	32. Is This Real Life

Disclaimer: As much as we claim to own this material, we truly do not. And for that, we are ashamed.

AmuletGirl AN: Hello all! I have had this chapter done for some time now but it has just been forever for us to get around to putting it up. Some crazy things are happening in the story and so much craziness is still in store. I hope you enjoy it and leave a review! Also, we are trying to get the next chapter out as soon as possible, but our lives are literally psychotic at the moment, so bear with us please. Love to you all!

* * *

_Is This Real Life_

_Lyla's Point of View_

"Has anyone else noticed that everyone is acting just plain weird lately?" Alexa asked as we made our way down to dinner. "It's just so odd, at least more odd than usual." Blair nodded her head as we listened to Alexa ramble on. She had been obsessing over the apparent odd behaviors of various people for the last couple of days. "I mean, I'm pretty used to the insane stuff that the Marauders are always doing, but this is different." I had been trying to avoid these conversations anytime they came up. While I still didn't want to tell Alexa, Blair, or really anyone about the baby quite yet, I still felt bad lying to them, so I just tried to tune out and pretend I wasn't listening. Denial: that was my game plan.

"Even you're acting weird," Alexa added as I quickened my pace. Not only was I trying not to participate in the conversation but also I was unbearably hungry. In fact, I'm always freaking hungry; it's kind of ridiculous. I'd be concerned with gaining too much weight if it wasn't for the fact that I end up throwing up everything I eat anyway.

"Me?" I questioned still looking ahead. "That's absurd, I am acting no different than I usually do."

"Are you serious?" she asked me, grasping my arm to slow me down to her pace. "I purposely scraped my fork on my teeth a million times today at breakfast and you never said one thing. You hate it when I do that and you said nothing; which is odd."

"Oh, Alexa, that's not even a big deal," I said rolling my eyes. I actually had noticed she was doing it but I just had a lot of other stuff on my mind. But believe me, I would have been all over her if I wasn't so preoccupied. "Why are you obsessing over this?" I questioned her.

Alexa shrugged her shoulders and tried to look nonchalant. "I'm not obsessed," she said calmly, "I'm just curious." Blair laughed slightly because she knew as well as I did that Alexa was freaking out about this.

"Well, my curious friend," Blair said draping her arms around Alexa's shoulders, and mine "If Lyla says there is nothing going on, then I say we leave it at that. Besides I'm sure if something does pop up, it won't be long before the boys tell us, you know they can't keep secrets." Thank you Blair. This might silence Alexa for a while, but give it time and she will start snooping around yet again. I give it thirty minutes.

"Fine, fine," Alexa said surrendering for the time being. "All I know is that something is going on and I am going to find out eventually." Not if I can help that. "And that is all I am saying." She motioned the zipping of her lips and turned the key to lock away her silence. Blair then very elaborately ripped the figurative key from Alexa's hands and threw it down the corridor. I began to laugh as Alexa said, "Very funny."

Once in the Great Hall we saw the four boys already sitting around the Gryffindor table talking back and forth. We quickly made our way over and took our seats. I slid into a spot in between Remus and Peter and across from Sirius. As I sat down, I noticed Sirius giving me a strange look. It was a mixture of curiosity, worry, and concern. I gave him a confused look and he just weakly smiled at me, all the while watching me intently. I put whatever was going on with Sirius out of my mind, because I was hungry.

I filled my plate with various foods. Alexa poured herself a cup of tea and then turned to me. "Lyls, do you want a cup of tea?" she asked offering the beverage to me. I went to decline but Sirius beat me to it.

"Lyla," Sirius said a little quietly and leaning in a bit, "Um, are you sure you wouldn't rather have water?" I looked at Alexa, who was giving Sirius a look, and then back to Sirius.

"Um, I was actually just going to have water anyway, but thank you for the suggestion," I responded giving Sirius a peculiar look. I grasped the pitcher of water and poured it into my glass. Sirius just smiled and everyone looked around curiously.

"And if I may make another suggestion," Sirius continued, "I would stay clear of the fish, you never know, but there could be mercury in it." Everyone just stopped and stared at Sirius. I had to give it to Alexa; Sirius was acting rather strange. When he saw all of our questioning stares he said, "It's true, I read it in a book." He nodded his head and then continued to take the fish off of my plate and replace it with chicken.

With the fish he had taken off my plate, he turned and placed it on Alexa's with a smile. "Here you go, darling, have some fish."

Alexa just stared down at her plate and then snapped her head up to look at Sirius. "Wait, so why is it not okay for her to eat this mercury poisoned fish but it's fine if I eat it? Do you not care if I die from mercury poisoning?" she questioned.

"Oh now don't be silly," Sirius said starting to eat his own food again.

Alexa just stared at Sirius with an angry frustrated look. "What is wrong with you?" she asked rather loudly. Sirius just laughed to himself and continued eating. We all tried to do the same by ridding our minds of the previous odd display by Sirius.

"So, mate," James said to Sirius in an attempt to change the subject, "Your birthday's coming up. Any plans for the big day?"

Alexa's face brightened and she sat up to listen closely. "Actually, I was thinking we could just hang out, nothing major," Sirius said very blasé. Alexa's eyes widened.

"You don't want to do anything for your birthday?" Alexa asked, a hint of concern in her voice. "No party? No nothing?"

"Nope," Sirius said simply. "I just want a quiet birthday with the friends I care the most about."

"But Sirius, you're turning seventeen, you're coming of age; that is definitely something to celebrate," Alexa told him.

"And we will celebrate, but with just us. And I don't want any kind of surprises," he stressed, giving us all, especially Alexa, pointed looks. "I mean it, don't try to pull anything." We all nodded our heads in agreement, but there was a slight glint in Alexa's eye and something about that slight smile on her face worried me. That face basically informed me that I was going to be dragged into something crazy in the near future by my dear sister.

As I took the last sip from my cup, I grabbed the full jug of water before me. I lifted it to pour some more water into my glass but was quickly stopped by Sirius. Sirius quickly put down his fork and took the water from my hands. "Here, Lyla, let me get that for you," he said. "You shouldn't strain yourself," he told me as he poured the water.

I suddenly got a notion as to what this was all about; I just hoped I was wrong. "Thank you, Sirius, but I think I could have managed."

"Think nothing of it Lyla," he said, setting the water jug back on the table and giving me a look.

James cleared his throat and pushed his plate away from him. "Not that I'm not enjoying watching Sirius be a tool, but I'm growing a bit tired and I wanted to work on some new quidditch plays before bed," he said placing his hands on the table and then pushing himself up from his spot. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement to leave and one by one we mimicked James and left the table.

Heading out of the Great Hall, Sirius grabbed my arm and pulled me back slightly so we were trailing the rest of the group. "Sirius?" I questioned. He just looked at me without saying anything. "Is there something wrong?"

"I don't know, is there?" he asked. "Are you okay, you look a little tired."

"It's nothing but a thing," I told Sirius, trying to put him at ease. "I'm perfectly fine. Why wouldn't I be?" Sirius just looked around, not really wanting to say what he was clearly thinking. "I assure you Sirius, I am just smashing; you have nothing to worry about."

Sirius looked our cautiously and then leaned in a little as we walked. "Lyla, who are we kidding?" he asked. "You can be honest with me. You can trust me." I just shook my head playing the role of denial. "Oh, come on, Lyla, I know."

"Know what?" I asked him, playing my part rather well, if I say so myself. At this I could tell he was getting a bit frustrated.

"Are you being serious right now?" he challenged.

"Of course not," I said, a slight smile gracing my lips, "You're Sirius." Sirius's eyes narrowed and he violently stepped away.

"Well, if you're going to be like that," he said heatedly, "I am going to leave you and go to the library, and study or something. Good night, Ms. Parker," he said bitterly. He quickly turned from me and began to stalk off in the other direction. As he walked away I couldn't help but think that he wasn't even going in the direction of the library; but did I correct him, of course not.

"Oh, Sirius, come now, I was only joking," I called after, beginning to laugh now.

The rest of the group that was in front of us had stopped at some point and was now watching Sirius. Alexa came over to where I was. "Where is he going?" she asked.

"The library," I said, a hint of laughter still underlying my voice.

"The library?" Alexa questioned. She grabbed my hand turned back to where Blair was standing with the other boys. "Okay, I've had enough, we are going to get to the bottom of this." As we passed Blair and the boys, Alexa grabbed hold of Blair's wrist and continued to walk, dragging us with her.

"Um, Alexa?" Blair asked as she struggled to keep up, "Where are we going?" she asked.

"We are going to get answers," Alexa said determined. She continued to drag us along until she finally paused in an abandoned alcove by a large stained glass window. "Blair, we are getting answers," she said again standing in front of Blair and myself.

"Answers to what?" Blair asked looking at me still extremely confused.

"Answers as to why Sirius is acting like a damn fool," Alexa snapped. "Blair, keep up." Blair nodded apologetically and then motioned for Alexa to continue.

Before she could continue on in her rambling I quickly cut in. "Alexa, why don't we just let it go? Why do you even think something is going on?" I asked, really hoping she would drop all of this.

"Lyla," she said looking at me with wide eyes, "Sirius is going to the library." Alexa just looked at me matter of factly. "Sirius doesn't go to the library. That's just how it is. So, for him to be going to the library clearly means that something is up. Sirius is keeping something from me and I have to know what it is."

"Here's a crazy thought," I told my sister, "Maybe Sirius is going to the library to do exactly what he says he was going to do; which is studying. There have been crazier things than studying to happen in the library."

Alexa straitened her stance and looked at Blair, and then they both started to laugh hysterically. "Oh, Lyla!" Alexa said doubling over with cramps of laughter. "You clearly still have your sense of humor." I rolled my eyes at her. "That's priceless. Sirius, studying? Ha!" I shook my head at my tittering friends. Alexa slowed her laughter and took a deep breath. "Now that we've had a good laugh, we can get down to business." She gave us a nod and then turned on her heels and headed off toward the library.

When we arrived at the library, it was rather empty, making it relatively easy to find Sirius, but leaving us more vulnerable to be discovered. We quietly and slowly made our way between two rows of books, situated to where we could just see Sirius sitting at his table. He had multiple books strewn across the table and was flipping through several of them at a time, pausing momentarily to read a passage.

After observing for a few minutes, I leaned in and whispered to Alexa who looked a little shocked. "Hmm, what do we have here?" I asked. "Sirius studying perhaps?" Alexa just stared straight ahead. I had to admit even I was a wee bit surprised to see Sirius actually studying, but I was pleasantly surprised.

"I don't believe it," is all Alexa said.

"Alex, I'm going to have to go with Lyla on this one; it seems that Sirius is really studying, and he isn't lying or keeping things from you," Blair said, finally seeing my side.

Alexa shook her head and then turned to push us deeper between the rows of books to better conceal ourselves. "I can't believe I was wrong," Alexa said, somewhat dazed.

"I can," I told her with a smile. "Especially since I told you that there was nothing going on."

"This is no time for that kind of attitude," Alexa said reprimanding me. "I feel terrible now. I basically accused Sirius of lying to me but all he's doing is being a good student."

"Oh, Alexa, it's fine," I told her. "It's understandable, you were just concerned about Sirius. Any girlfriend would stalk their boyfriend to make sure they weren't keeping secrets." I took a moment for dramatic effect. "Well, probably not, but your intentions were noble."

Now it was Alexa's turn to roll her eyes. Alexa returned to the edge of the bookshelves and watched her boyfriend. "Look how cute he is; studying and all," Alexa said dreamily. She quickly turned to face Blair and me. "Oh, and we never mention this to anyone. Sirius would be furious if he found out that I was following him." Blair and I nodded our heads. "Besides, since we know Sirius is actually doing what he says he is going to do, we never need to mention this again." We nodded yet again as Alexa got one last look at Sirius. Blair and I turned to head back to the common room when two words stopped us. "That wanker!" Alexa whisper shouted in anger.

Blair and I quickly turned back and joined Alexa at our previous spying post. Sirius was still at his table but he was now joined by a girl with light brown hair shaped into a bob; Laura. Laura had a book and a roll of parchment with her and a smile spread across her face as Sirius offered for her to sit down. "Look at that backstabbing, lying, son of a bitch," Alexa seethed.

"Alexa, not two minutes ago you were saying how cute Sirius was and stuff," I told Alexa and her gaze was heatedly concentrated on Sirius and Laura.

"Yeah, well, that was before I found out my boyfriend is having a little library tryst," she said through clenched teeth. "Let's see if I throw him a birthday party, now."

"Well, that certainly won't be an issue, especially because he was very clear in saying that he did not want a birthday party," I told her.

"Oh please, Sirius saying he doesn't want to party, is like James saying he doesn't want to play quidditch. You know how Mom says every year that she doesn't want anything for Christmas from Dad, but we all know that if he didn't get her anything she would be pissed. This is sort of the same thing," Alexa said. "But in light of current events…"

"Come on now, Alex," Blair said. "I'm sure it's nothing. Look he's just helping her with some school work." Over at the table, Laura had opened the book she had been holding and she and Sirius were leaning in to look at something in the book and Sirius was pointing to something.

"Blair, who would ask Sirius for help with school stuff. Only an idiot would get help from him. It's clear that they're sleeping together, just look at how he points at the book. He might as well be saying 'Let's rip off our clothes and have crazy wild sex in the book stacks,'" Alexa said quickly jumping to conclusions, false ones at that.

"That is just crazy," I told her. "First, he is just pointing, and nothing else. Second, Sirius is not stupid and you know it. And third, I believe that Sirius is tutoring you in Transfiguration; which means you just called yourself an idiot."

Alexa, not really having a comeback just said, "Well, whatever." She turned to Blair and me. "Again, we mention this to no one. Now, let's go before things get explicit." Alexa quickly pushed past us and we maneuvered our way out of the library.

The whole way back to the common room was spent trying to convince Alexa that Sirius wasn't cheating on her, but it seemed to be no help. "Just come out and ask him about it," Blair reasonably suggested.

"No," Alexa said, shooting down yet another idea. "That won't work because then he's going to think that I've been spying on him."

"But you have been spying on him," I reminded her.

"Yeah, but he doesn't need to know that," Alexa said as we came upon the Fat Lady. "Besides, how would that make me look? Crazy, that's what." Alexa told the Fat Lady the password and she swung open to let us through. "I should have never allowed you guys to talk me into going to the library."

Blair and I looked at each other with wide eyes. "You amaze me," I told her.

"Thank you," Alexa said with a smile.

As we headed for the dormitory, I saw Remus out of the corner of my eye sitting by the fire reading. I let Blair and Alexa continue upstairs but I hung back and went over to the couch Remus was sitting on. Remus closed his book and smiled up at me as I sat down next to him. "How are you doing?" Remus asked me as he lifted his arm allowing me to lean in and rest against him.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Okay I suppose," I told him. "I've been nauseas pretty much all day but I'm so hungry that I have to eat and I'm super tired but every time I've tried to take a nap I can't sleep."

"I'm sorry," he said, brushing the hair from my face and tucking it behind my ear.

We sat there in silence for a few moments. "Tomorrow night I'm supposed to go and see Madame Pomfrey for a checkup," I said. I had considered not even telling him about this. I didn't want to make him feel like he had to come. But the truth was, I was a little nervous about it and I would feel a lot better not having to go alone; but I wouldn't ask him to come, I doubt he'd even want to go.

"Oh," was all he said. After a few moments he cleared his throat nervously. "Well, can I come with you?" he asked.

I sat up and looked at him. "You want to go?" I asked, sounding a little shocked.

"I do; but only if you want me to. I read that some women don't want the fathers to come to these sorts of things," he quickly said.

I felt tears start to form in my eyes. "I really would like it if you came with me; I'm a little scared to go by myself," I told him truthfully.

"Of course I'll go with you," he said taking my hands in his. "If you didn't want to go alone, why didn't you just ask me?"

"Well, I didn't think you'd want to go," I told him.

"Oh, Lyla, never hesitate to ask," he said cupping my face. "I want to be there for you. I want to be there for you and our baby."

I quickly wiped away a few tears and leaned back into Remus, his arms around me once more. "Tomorrow night then," I said.

"Tomorrow night," he repeated in reassurance.

* * *

"Alexa, you can't avoid him all day," Blair said as we made our way to the common room to begin our free period.

"Oh, really?" Alexa asked wide-eyed, challenging Blair's statement. "Because to me, it looks like I've been doing a tremendous job of avoiding him and I can definitely keep this up for as long as it takes."

"I'm still confused as to why you're avoiding him in the first place," I said, genuinely confused. Alexa tried to explain it to me earlier, but her logic is so messed up that it's nearly impossible to even attempt to follow.

Alexa let out an impatient sigh. "I will say it one more time. Sirius is messing around on me with that random little tramp, having secret late night 'study' sessions and I spied on him. I'm mad at him and I don't want to even deal with him." Before we turned the next corner Alexa quickly peeked around cautiously and then continued. "Avoiding him is the best thing to do; he won't notice there's something wrong and I won't accidently murder him."

"Oh yeah, he won't notice a thing," Blair said rolling her eyes.

"I detect a hint of sarcasm, friend," Alexa said to Blair. "Why the sarcasm?"

"It could possibly be because you are the most obvious avoider and he is definitely going to notice that you are avoiding him, which will lead him to wonder what's going on," I informed her.

"Obvious?" she asked, sincerely shocked. I had no idea what went through Alexa's head or how she saw things, but I know I wish I could sometimes have that blissful world of illusions. "Name one time I was evident?"

"I'll name two," I told her happily. "Let's begin at breakfast, shall we. As we were approaching the Great Hall, Sirius came out into the corridor, saw us and yelled for you. You promptly responded by pulling Blair in front of you and then running down the corridor in the opposite direction." Alexa just stayed silent.

"Second example," Blair said. "During Transfiguration, you changed seats every time Sirius sat down next to you. He's obviously going to realize something's up."

"First off, I wasn't that obvious. And second, it really doesn't matter because I'm just going to keep avoiding him so he won't get the chance to ask me why I'm avoiding him," Alexa said, clearly thinking this whole thing out. Clearly.

"So the current plan is to pretty much just stay clear of Sirius for the rest of your life?" I asked just to clarify.

"Finally your catching up," Alexa said approvingly. When we finally made it back to Gryffindor Tower, we spoke the password and the portrait hole opened to us. As we stepped into the portrait hole, James stepped out.

"Oh, hello there ladies," he said cheerily placing a peck on Blair's cheek. "Alexa," he added, "Sirius was looking for you."

Alexa instinctively did a scan of the surrounding area. "Really?" she asked. "Do you know where he is? Is he in the common room?"

"No," James said. "But that's okay because if you come with me you can see him in Astronomy." James turned us around and ushered us back out into the corridor.

"What?" Alexa asked in a panic as she tried to resist James's guidance. "We don't have Astronomy until after dinner. I have at least another couple hours before then."

"Well, for some reason they switched Astronomy with whatever class we have now. So, we'll just have whatever class we're supposed to have now after dinner," James told us.

"But I'm not prepared for this; I haven't had enough time," Alexa said nervously.

"Alexa, don't worry," James said putting his arm around Alexa as we walked to Astronomy. "I haven't done my homework either. Lucky for us, Lyla is a champion and always comes through for us." I gave James a smile.

"James!" Alexa exclaimed. "This is so much bigger than homework! This is a life and death situation and death is the most probable outcome."

"That sounds unpleasant," James said bluntly. "Now who's ready to learn about some stars?" he asked looking up into the figurative sky above. Alexa scowled at him and we continued to walk.

Once we arrived at the Astronomy classroom, Sirius, Peter and Remus were already there. Next to Sirius there were four empty seats. He waved us over and patted the seat next to him looking at Alexa. Alexa weakly smiled and took the seat the farthest away from Sirius and looked straight ahead. I laughed a bit and then went past Alexa and took the seat next to Sirius.

"Okay, what the hell is up with her today?" he asked me as soon as I sat down.

"Honestly, Sirius, you would have to ask her. I have tried to figure her out for about fifteen years now and I still don't have a handle on her," I told him.

"See, I would ask her, but she hasn't come within twenty feet of me all day," Sirius said, sounding a bit frustrated. "Now, switching from your psychotic sister to yourself; how're you doing?"

"I'm doing just super," I told Sirius cheerily trying to throw him off. "I was a little tired when I woke up this morning but after I had a few cups of tea I was ready to go for the rest of the day."

"What!" he exclaimed. "Lyla, I thought I told you to not drink tea." I saw Remus on the other side of Sirius giving him a strange look.

Sirius obviously thought he knew something. He clearly wasn't as drunk as I thought he was the other night when I told him and Alexa that I was pregnant. "Sirius, there is no reason for me not to drink tea, so just drop all this. You are acting so strange."

"You're the one that's acting strange," he told me. "You're the one who is acting like something didn't happen. Lyla, I remember what you told me that night." I just shook my head acting like I had no idea what he was talking about. "I know you know what I'm referring to."

"I'm afraid I don't Sirius, sorry," I told him, shrugging my shoulders.

Before Sirius could continue, Lucas stepped in at the right time. "Okay class, let's get started." I pulled out my book from my bag and placed it on the desk in front of me. "By a show of hands, how many of you haven't done the assignment that I assigned in our last class?" Nearly every single person raised his or her hand. "Alright, seeing as only three people actually did their work, you can take the class period to finish that up." Lucas returned to his seat behind his desk, he looked different.

As the class filled with chatter, Sirius and the rest of our crew started to copy mine and Remus's papers. Before I let Alexa and Blair have my paper, I grabbed it and stood up from my chair. "I'll be back, I need to check and make sure this one question is right."

As I approached Lucas's desk I could feel Remus watching me. "Professor," I said quietly. Lucas sat up and looked at me when I spoke. "Hey," I said giving him a smile. This was the first time that we had actually talked since the whole blowup with Remus. It was weird talking with him but I had to admit that I missed our conversations. Even though Lucas and I were just friends I didn't want to lose Remus, especially now.

"Hey, Lyla," he said returning my smile. "What can I do for you?"

"Well I couldn't help but notice that you looked a little bummed and distracted, so I thought that I would come and see if you were okay," I said.

He took a deep breath and then let it out. "I'm doing fine," he said. "Jobless, but fine."

"Jobless?" I asked, confused. "But you have a job."

"I did, yes, but Sinistra is coming back and this is my last class," he told me.

I felt really bad for him. I couldn't imagine losing my job, especially losing a job that you really loved. "Lucas, I'm so sorry," I told him, trying to be sympathetic.

"Oh, it's nothing that could have been changed. I knew Sinistra was eventually going to come back, but I guess she just decided to come back early," he said sounding a little sad. I really hoped that Sinistra coming back early had nothing to do with wanting to get rid of Lucas due to certain rumors.

"What are you going to do now?" I asked him.

"Well, I know that I want to continue teaching in some capacity; you helped me fully realize that teaching is my passion," he said. He gave me a thankful smile. "I think I might go back to my alma mater and put my résumé in, then just wait and see what happens. I may not get a job right away but I'm willing to wait as long as it takes."

"Well, I know you will be greatly missed. I know I'll miss you," I told him.

"Thank you," he said laughing a bit. "However, something tells me that many of the boys are going to be happy of my leave." I joined in his laughter. "But I will miss you too."

"When do you leave?" I asked him.

"All my things are packed up and I'm heading out after this class. There's no sense in me staying around and leaving in the morning." He leaned forward and straightened up a stack of papers. He seemed to be really sad to be leaving, not that I could blame him.

"Promise me you'll keep in touch," I told him. "I want to know how you are after you leave."

"I promise," he said quietly.

I gave him a nod and went to return back to my seat. "You know," I added, "I'm not only losing a really good teacher, but I'm losing a really good friend too."

"Me too," he said weakly. I turned and continued to my seat.

When I sat back down, Sirius leaned over and looked at my paper. "So did you get it right?" he asked. I had completely forgotten about that.

"Um, yeah, they're all right," I told him. Sirius nodded and continued to get the answers.

When class was over, we all collected our things. I purposely went slowly so we would be leaving last. As we were about to leave the classroom, I turned to Lucas, who looked very sad in the empty classroom, gave him a smile and waved. He returned the wave and then went back into his office. Remus gave me a smile, grabbed my hand, lacing our fingers together, and led me out of the classroom.

We quickly caught up with the rest of the group and then I suddenly realized we were one person short. "Where's Alexa?" I asked searching the corridor ahead.

"Well, I tried to catch her after class, and she started to run, again," Sirius said. I started to laugh. I grabbed the strap of my bag and pulled it further up on my shoulder as it started to slide off. Before I could let go of it Sirius grabbed it. "Lyla, you shouldn't be carrying this," he said, sliding the bag off my shoulder. "Geeze, this is incredibly heavy; do you have a body in this thing?"

"I just have my books in it, Sirius," I told him.

"Regardless, you shouldn't strain yourself so much," he said.

Remus gave me a confused look and then looked at Sirius with heated eyes. "I got it Sirius, thanks," Remus said bitterly. Sirius handed him my bag and Remus slung it over his shoulder. This was getting ridiculous. It almost made me just want to come out and tell everyone the truth. Almost.

Sirius, James, and Blair walked ahead as Remus and I followed a little more slowly. "I can take my bag back," I told him as he squeezed my hand tighter.

"No, it's fine, I've got it," he said smiling. "But there is something wrong with Sirius. He acts like he knows what's going on."

"That's probably because he does know," I told him.

"What? How does he know?" Remus asked in a panic. "I thought nobody knew."

"Well, I was hanging out with him and Alexa the night of the party, and they both were extremely drunk. I was feeling all this pressure because of the baby and I just had to tell someone otherwise I was going to go crazy, so I figured there was no way they'd remember it the next day anyway so I told them," I rattled off quickly. "Thankfully, Alexa didn't remember a thing, but Sirius apparently wasn't as drunk as I thought. I just keep pretending like I never told him, that I have no idea what he's talking about and it's been driving him crazy."

"That certainly does explain a lot," Remus said, "But he is still out of line. He should just mind his own business, especially since we aren't ready for people to know."

"Oh, he's just trying to help," I told him. "Besides, I figure he'll give up eventually if I keep denying everything." Remus nodded his head stiffly.

"So, when do we actually have to go see Madame Pomfrey?" he asked pulling me closer to him.

"She thought it would be best if we waited till after classes were over and when most people are in bed. That way, we run a lower risk of being interrupted unexpectedly. I figure we can head over there toward the end of our free period," I suggested. Remus nodded his head in agreement.

Dinner and our free period passed by in a blur. My mind was swimming with a million things and it was so hard to concentrate on one particular thing. During the free period, I spent at least thirty minutes reading one page of my book. I just kept getting distracted. Before I knew it, Remus and I were once again walking down the corridors of the school, our hands intertwined.

We walked the whole way in silence. I didn't know what to say. This was all becoming real and I couldn't escape it. We were having a baby. When we got to the Hospital wing my body stopped outside the doors. Remus moved to continue, but I couldn't get my legs to move. I stared straight ahead at the doors and felt fear creep inside me. "I'm scared," I whispered.

Remus grasped my hand tighter. "Me too," he said. That made me feel a little better. At least we were on the same page. "We can do this, together." I started to bite my lip and nodded my head. We had to do this. "You ready?" No. I nodded my head.

We pushed open the large doors and slid into the wing. Madame Pomfrey came out of her office, hearing us come in. She gave us a smile and came to meet us. "Good evening," she said to both of us. "Mr. Lupin, I was not aware that you were coming this evening, but I am glad that you did." Remus nodded and smiled. "How about you lay down and we can get started," she said, to me this time.

I slowly walked over to the closest bed and lay down, waiting for Madame Pomfrey to return. With just her wand in hand, she sat down on a stool beside the bed. "Breathe Ms. Parker," she said laughing slightly. "There is nothing to be nervous about." I took a deep breath but I was still nervous. "This is strictly routine. Tonight we are just checking up on the little one to make sure everything is fine. We'll just take a quick look at the baby and then we'll be done."

"Take a look?" I asked. "We get to see it?"

"Yes, dear," she said. "It is an incantation that when cast captures the essence of the baby. A ball of energy will enter you, encounter the baby, and then mimic the child in its movements and looks. I assure it is painless and in no way harms the baby." I nodded my head again. "Now, just roll your shirt up to expose your stomach." I folded back the bottom of my shirt. My stomach was still flat; it didn't even look like I was pregnant. "When the energy enters you, you will feel a slight warmth, but that is perfectly normal. Are you ready?" I nodded my head and then looked to Remus who was watching me intently. He took my hand in both of his.

Madame Pomfrey muttered the incantation and a red orb spilled forth from the tip of her wand. The ball of energy hovered for a moment and then slowly moved toward my bare stomach. I began to feel slight anxiety, as the orb got right above my stomach. Before I knew it, the ball had disappeared inside me. I was suddenly filled with a warm sensation.

A few moments later, the warm feeling left me as the orb reappeared. It hovered in front of us and slowly began to change forms. It took the shape of what kind of looked like a baby, but much smaller. It was relatively still but shifted every once in a while. That was my baby. "You are about two months pregnant, so the embryo is going to still be relatively small, but is busy forming it's little fingers and toes." Madame Pomfrey leaned forward to better examine the 'baby'. "The baby seems to be developing properly and it seems to be healthy.

When she said the baby was healthy, I felt a huge relief. I couldn't help but thank God that the baby wasn't a Cyclops. I really had to stop listening to Alexa so much. "If you listen closely," she said with a smile and a flick of her wand, "You can hear its heartbeat." Then, all of a sudden we heard this faint thumping noise. My heart swelled at the sound of my baby's heart beating. This was the first time since getting pregnant, that I felt optimistic and happy about this whole situation. It was all setting in now. There was a human being growing inside me and in seven months I was going to have a baby.

I looked over at Remus who was staring up at the 'baby' adoringly. There were a few tears streaming down his face. "Are you crying?" I asked him cupping his face with my free hand. He turned to face me, a smile on his face. He wiped the tears away and rubbed my hand.

"I love you," he said quietly.

"I love you too," I told him back. I looked back at my baby and smiled. My baby. Our baby.

Madame Pomfrey flicked her wand again and the ball of energy slowly lost its shape and disappeared through the tip of her wand. I pulled down my shirt and sat up a bit. "Just to give you a heads up on what to expect, I want you to come back in two months for another check up. By then we can probably determine the sex of the baby, if you choose to know. So if you don't have any questions for me, you are free to go."

"Thank you Madame Pomfrey," I said.

"Anytime dears," she said. As Madame Pomfrey stood from her chair, the doors to the Hospital wing slowly opened. As luck would have it, Professor Dumbledore walked in. Great.

"Good evening, Poppy," Dumbledore said to Madame Pomfrey.

"Good evening, Headmaster. I didn't know you were stopping by," she said.

"Oh, well, I had no intention to but as I was strolling the castle, I got the strangest notion to come by and visit; and what a happy surprise this is turning out to be," he said cheerily looking to Remus and myself. "Mr. Lupin, Ms. Parker, a delight to see you, I hope all is well." He directed his last words toward me.

"Oh, yes, Professor, I'm not ill," I told him. There was something so kind in his eyes that made feel bad for keeping this from him. Dumbledore had always been so kind to me and he in no way deserved this deception.

"I know," he said with a slight smile. Of, course he did. That man knew more than we even knew about ourselves. "Ms. Parker, is there something you would like to share with me?" I struggled with what to say for a few moments. I should tell him, but I didn't want to. While I had accepted that I was having a baby, I was still fearful of the judgment that people would pass on me when they found out. "Just know that there is nothing you can say that will make me think any less of you, my dear."

I looked to Remus, who basically game me a look that said it was my decision on whether I told him or not. I took a deep breath. "Remus and I are having a baby," I told him. The more times I said it out loud, the less it shocked me. There was no change in Dumbledore's face. How was he not surprised by this? "How long have you known, Professor?"

He laughed slightly. "You know me well, Ms. Parker," he said. "Expecting mothers have an essence, or a glow about them. While I admit I was not certain, but I suspected when I saw you and several of your classmates sneaking out to Hogsmeade." Remus and I looked at each other and then back at Dumbledore guiltily.

As I felt the relief of telling Dumbledore, I had a thought that quickly brought back the anxiety. "Professor, I can still go to school here right?" I asked nervously. The thought of not being able to go to Hogwarts anymore scared me to death. I had no idea how the school handled something like this. "I promise this will in no way affect my grades. I will work just as hard, even harder."

"Ms. Parker," Dumbledore said softly, stopping my panic. "You are an exemplary student, we have never had a disciplinary problem with you, and as far as I'm concerned, you are one of the hardest working students Hogwarts has ever had. There is no reason to dismiss you. You will probably admit that you and Mr. Lupin have made a mistake, but from this will come something beautiful and I can't wait to see you handle this challenge with grace and poise. If I were to dismiss every student for making a mistake, there would be no students and no teachers for that matter."

I gave Dumbledore a smile. "I want to extend my help to both you and Mr. Lupin," Dumbledore continued. "This is going to be a trying time for you two and if you ever need assistance please pay me a visit. There will no doubt be several questions down the road, but for now, there is just one thing to worry about. There is only one thing that I require from you two, I do ask that you inform your parents." I felt my whole body tense up. I was kind of hoping I would never have to tell them. "They deserve to know, and I cannot in good conscious keep something like that from a parent. Now, if you would like, I will be more than happy to help you tell them."

"Thank you, sir, but I think this is something that we need to do ourselves," Remus said. I gave him a nod and gripped his hand tighter. "We will tell them."

"That shows great responsibility and maturity," Dumbledore said with a smile. "Two marks of great parents." I gave Remus a smile. "Well, I think I have sufficiently wasted enough of your time. I will let you two return to your house and get some rest." Remus and I both nodded and he helped me off the bed. We walked side by side to the large wooden doors.

"Thank you, Professor," I said again. Dumbledore smiled and nodded, his eyes sparkling like they always did. Remus and I slipped through the doors and started down the corridors leading back to Gryffindor tower.

"Well, I think that went well," Remus said hopefully. I nodded my head in agreement. I really did feel a whole lot better about all this. I felt for the first time that Remus and I could actually do this. "I think we should tell our parents over the Easter break."

"You know, I don't think Easter break is going to be good," I said, hoping I could find a way out of this.

"There's never going to be a good time for this kind of news, so we might as well just tell them now," Remus responded, sensing my apprehensiveness.

"I would much rather wait till later to tell them. Like maybe right before I have the baby?" I suggested with a smile. "Yeah, that's a good idea; we'll tell them the day that I have the baby."

Remus just shook his head and laughed. "Somehow I think your parents will notice that you're pregnant before then."

"If I never go home they won't notice. I just won't go home for any breaks. See, problem solved."

"Problem not solved," he said crushing my dreams. "You have to go home at some point, especially during summer, and we have to tell them. We can do this. I am going to be there with you through everything. I will never abandon you."

"That is very sweet and much appreciated," I told him pulling him closer as we continued to walk. "However, I don't think you realize what telling my parents that I'm pregnant means. I will be brutally murdered. They won't think twice about it, they will enjoy it. Man, you have it so easy."

"Easy?" Remus asked in a shocked tone. "You don't think your parents are going to kill me when they find out that I have impregnated their eldest daughter? I got news for you babe, I'm as good as dead."

"Well, at least we'll die together," I said with a smile.

"It's the way to go," Remus replied.

"Hey, maybe we can get Sirius and Alexa to do something that will cancel out what we did and then my parents will be more mad at them," I thought optimistically. "Oh, who am I kidding, there could be nothing worse."

Remus just laughed and put his arm around my shoulders, pulling me to him. "You know, we need to start thinking about what Madame Pomfrey said," Remus said as we neared the Fat Lady. I looked up at him in question. To be honest I couldn't remember what exactly she had said. "Whether or not we want to know the sex of the baby."

"Oh, right," I said. I looked down at my stomach and wondered. "Well, do you want to know?"

"I'm fine either way. If you want to know, that's fine, but if not, I don't mind waiting," he said.

"Right now, I'm not really sure on anything I want to do, so I'll probably just decide that day," I said. That was further up the road and I had trouble figuring out what was going to happen tomorrow.

"Do you want it to be a girl or a boy?" he asked.

I had never really thought about it. Up until now, it never really occurred to me that the baby even had a sex. "Honestly, I think as long as the baby is healthy, the sex doesn't really matter. What do you want?" I asked. He probably wanted a boy, the next generation of Marauders and all.

"I want a girl," he said to my surprise. "I want her to grow up to be just like her mother." I looked up at him and he just looked at me adoringly. I rose up on my tiptoes and placed a kiss on his lips.

"So, we know that my parents will more than likely murder us when we tell them; but what about your parents?" I asked. "I haven't even met them yet and we are going to drop this news on them." Remus had planned on taking me to meet his parents over the Easter holiday, but now, they were going to be getting a whole lot more than their son's girlfriend in their lives. I was scared before about meeting his parents, and now I was terrified.

Remus smiled. "Well, I know that they'll be disappointed, but they love and support me no matter what. And I know that they'll love you and our child." I gave him an unsure smile. As much as I wanted Remus's parents to be okay with our situation, I had a hard time believing that any parent would be accepting of their son becoming a father at such a young age. He kissed the top of my head and gave me a smile.

When we got back to the common room, it was pretty empty and our friends were nowhere in sight. We got to the stairs leading up to our dorms and stopped. "Do you think we should tell everyone before we tell our parents?" I asked.

"We have time to figure it out," he said as I yawned. "But, for now, you are obviously tired so you need to get some sleep." I smiled and nodded. When I opened the door to my dorm, Alexa and Blair were still awake and sitting on my bed.

"Where have you been?" Alexa asked.

"Remus and I just had some stuff to do," I said, removing the yellow sweater I had been wearing.

"Whatever that means," Alexa said rolling her eyes and then smiling. She patted the spot next to her on my bed. I smiled and then took my seat next to my friends. As I sat there, I knew that I was going to have to make some big decisions soon. I also knew that I was going to have to not only be concerned with my well-being but also the well-being of my child. I was now had to live for my son or daughter. But for now, in this moment, I was a regular teenager, only if it lasted for this one night.

* * *

_Remus's POV_

As I walked to my own dorm after leaving Lyla, my head was still racing with so many things. I had so many questions, I was scared, but I knew I had to be strong for Lyla. She had to be ten times as scared as I was. I felt so guilty that she was the one that had to go through this. And while I hoped it wasn't true, I knew she was going to face great adversity once people found out she was pregnant, but I was going to be there for her. I was going to take care of her and our child as long as she would allow me. To ensure that Lyla's secret was kept from other students as long as she wished; I had to take care of something.

I opened the door to our dorm and in the room were James and Peter in their respective beds. "Hey there Moons," James said, looking up from his quidditch magazine. "Where did you disappear to, mate?"

"I was with Lyla," I told him. I looked over to Sirius's bed and it looked as if a hurricane had attacked his things.

James smiled and raised his eyebrows. "Well, things seem to be going quite well with you two, yeah?" he asked.

Well was really a loose term here. As well as could be expected I suppose. "Yeah, things are great," I said. "Hey, where's Sirius?" I asked.

"He's in the shower," Peter said pointing to the closed bathroom door.

I casually went over to the trunk at the foot of my bed and quickly retrieved my toothbrush. If James and Peter were around I would just have to talk to Sirius in the bathroom. I walked over to the bathroom door and grasped the handle. "Brushing my teeth," I announced to James and Peter. The both nodded their heads, looking somewhat confused.

I pushed open the door and then quickly closed it behind me. I was immediately bombarded by the enormous amount of steam that engulfed the bathroom. If there was one thing that Sirius liked, almost as much as girls, it was showers. I'll admit it was a bit weird when I first met him, but after a while it was just a part of Sirius.

Before I had the chance to say anything, Sirius turned off the shower and threw back the curtains. I quickly threw Sirius a nearby towel and shielded my eyes. "Moony, what the hell?" Sirius asked covering his body.

"Sorry," I quickly said, "But this is the only place that we could talk."

"Because the rest of the castle just doesn't do it for you anymore?" Sirius asked sarcastically wrapping the towel around his waist and stepping out of the shower.

"No," I said giving him a face, "Because this is one of the only places that we can talk without James, Peter or any of the girls."

"And what constitutes this secrecy and clear invasion of privacy and personal space?" Sirius asked.

I hesitated for a moment. "Yeah, you know what, this is just a little too awkward for me. I'm going to turn around and you can put on some clothes," I told Sirius and turning around.

"Much appreciated. But continue if you will," he said.

"Listen, I couldn't help but notice that you've been kind of obsessed and all over Lyla lately," I said still turned around. "Is there anything you need to tell me?" Sirius didn't say anything at first. He walked past me and hung up the towel. He was now clothed in a loose pair of grey sweatpants.

He shook his head and looked down as he leaned against a sink. "You know, Remus, I don't think it's my place to tell you," Sirius said.

I figured, in order to find out if Sirius did indeed know if Lyla was pregnant without actually telling him, I was going to have to get Sirius to tell me somehow. "Sirius, she is my girlfriend, I think I deserve to know," I told him. Sirius was clearly struggling with what to say. Hopefully this would get something out of him. "Is the reason that you have been all over Lyla because you like her?"

Sirius eyes widened immediately and he quickly stood up. "Remus, no, you know I would never do that. To you or Alexa. You're way off base man," he quickly said.

"Well, there doesn't seem to be any other explanation," I lied, keeping a straight face. It was surprisingly easier than expected. "Sirius, you're my best mate and all, but if you like Lyla, I could never forgive you and our friendship would be over."

"No, Remus, you don't understand," Sirius said placing his hands on my shoulders. "You and Lyla are my friends and I would never betray that friendship." He paused for a moment. He turned from me and I could see him rubbing his temple in the mirror. "I really think that Lyla should be the one to tell you this, but, you've left me no choice." He looked me directly in the eyes and said, "Remus, you are going to be a father." I went to speak but Sirius cut me off. "Now, look mate, don't freak out, we can figure this out, everything will be fine." He looked at me again and cocked his head to the side. "You're not freaking out. Why aren't you freaking out?" he asked.

I slight smile crept to my lips. "I'm not freaking out because I've known for a while," I told him.

Sirius just looked at me for a moment and then punched me in the arm. "You prat!" he said somewhat angrily. "You had me thinking that I was going to lose my best mate and I was worried about telling you that your girlfriend was pregnant."

"Sorry, mate," I told him, laughing a bit. "I had to figure out if you knew about Lyla without just coming right out and asking you."

"Ah, no worries. Believe it or not, I'm already over it," Sirius said shrugging his shoulders and resumed his spot against the sink. "But that's why I've been so concerned with Lyla. I didn't think you knew so I thought someone should be helping her out. I apologize if I treaded on anyone's toes."

"The thought was very admirable," I said appreciatively. "However, given the circumstances, Lyla does wish to keep her condition private for now, so you can understand the graveness of keeping this a secret. Just don't say anything to anyone, and don't even let Lyla know you know. Just start acting like you know nothing."

"No, yeah, I get it. It makes me feel a lot better knowing that you know," Sirius told me.

"Honestly, Pads," I said leaning up against the sink next to him, "I feel a lot better now that you know."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Sirius asked. "Seeing as you cornered me in the bathroom, alone, we might as well get in a chat while we're in here."

I laughed at my friend. "No, I don't want to bother you with something like this."

Sirius put a hand on my shoulder. "What are friends for?" he asked. "So what are you and Lyla planning on doing?"

"Well, I mean, I suppose we are gong to keep the baby; although I'm not really sure how that's going to work," I said, suddenly realizing that we really had no idea what we were going to do.

"What about adoption?" Sirius asked.

I shook my head. "No, I don't think Lyla would go for that. I don't really feel that comfortable with it myself."

"Have you guys told your parents?" he posed another question.

"We are planning on telling them over the Easter holiday," I told him. "The plan, as you know, was to go and stay with the Parkers for Easter, but I don't think they're going to be too keen on me once they find out, so I'll probably end up going home and Lyla and I will go to my house one day to tell my parents."

"How do you think they'll take it?"

"No doubt all of them will be upset and disappointed; but I think my parents will take it a little better than Lyla's. You know, they took me being a werewolf relatively well, but it would be foolish to think they would take this well," I said. Sirius nodded his head in agreement. "I'm scared Sirius," I said quietly. Sirius gave me a weak smile.

"I don't know if I can be a father. What if I'm a terrible dad? I don't want to disappoint Lyla or the baby."

"Remus, you couldn't disappoint anyone if you tried," Sirius said encouragingly. "There is nothing you can't do. Plus, the mother of your child is Lyla Parker, and you can't get a tougher woman than that of the Parker variety. You two together can get through anything. You're like this dynamic duo: Lyls and Reems. You guys are going to have all these great and exciting new adventures ahead of you, and just know that I, as well as the rest of us, are here to help in anyway we can."

I gave him a grateful smile. "You know, I heard the baby's heartbeat tonight," I told him still smiling. I still had the image of the baby in my mind. "I couldn't help but be excited."

"Well, even though you are young and only sixteen, no matter the age, any father would be excited to see his child," Sirius assured me. "Everything is going to be fine. And that baby is going to be a champion. I mean, how could it not be; with parents like you guys and an uncle like me. This kid's got it made, I don't think it realizes how lucky it is." I laughed at my friend. "Now, with a little one on the way, we need to get as much sleep as we can now, so off to bed," Sirius said pushing off the sink. I nodded my head. "And don't worry, your secret is safe with me."

We opened he door to the bathroom and found the strangest scene; strange even for us. There was James, still reading his magazine, but he was hanging upside down from his bed. "Oh, hey you two," James said, his face red.

"What the hell are you doing, Prongs?" Sirius asked.

"I have this theory. I believe that if I read upside down, all the knowledge will go to my brain and therefore, I will become smarter," James said. "You guys should try it." I shook my head and Sirius looked on skeptically.

Sirius then took a step forward. "Well, that seems logical," he said. He walked over to his trunk, found a book and then mimicked James's position. After a few moments, Sirius said, "You know, I think James is on to something." I looked over to Peter who was just laughing his ass off at the idiocy that filled the room. I really needed to get new friends.

* * *

Baby Blue's Author's Note: Well, you lovely little readers you, I hope that this chapter was satisfactory and to your likings. Also, know that it was truly my fault that the chapter wasn't out back in April when it got finished. I dicked around and didn't edit it and such. But it's summertime for us now, and we promise to work much harder before we leave each other and go to college in the fall. Drop us a line and tell us what you thought, please!

Love!


	33. Believe Me, I'm Lying

Disclaimer: I sadly can not say that I own the characters in this chapter despite the ones you don't recognize as J.K. Rowling's; nor do I own the song which is the title of this very long and depressing chapter. That's by All Time Low. I recommend having a listen.

Baby Blue's Author's Note: Well, first let me say that this chapter has been a long time coming and I'm extremely sorry that it was not finished or put up later. I did, however, make it very long and action packed for everyone of our lovely readers and reviewers. So, please drop us a line and tell us what you thought about it and just your thoughts in general. We love you all and once again, sorry for the lateness!

And I had to put this up quickly, so feel free to help me edit and point out the mistakes that were made. Trust me, there were probably a lot! Thanks!

* * *

_Believe Me, I'm Lying_

_Alexa's Point of View_

Staring across the table at the brunette fifth year, I tried desperately to hold myself together. Either she was going to be on the receiving end of a rage blackout so bad that they would have to cart her away in a body bag or I was going to explode. Frankly, I hoped it was the former and not the latter. While her murky blue eyes narrowed in on me, my fingers started to curl into my palms leaving little half-moon indents as my knuckles turned white. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of waiting for her to respond to my question, she opened her mouth.

"I really have no idea what you're talking about." And that, my good friends, is when I lost it.

_Earlier That Morning_

"Alexa. Alexa, wake up," The prodding that was attacking the top of my shoulder continued, getting more vicious and I swung out blindly until my fist found purchase. "Son of a bitch! I was just telling you to get your lazy ass out of bed but if you're going to be that way," The rambling continued and I cracked an eyelid open to see Lyla standing there clutching her neck.

Rolling onto my stomach and then pushing my feet off the side of the bed, I pushed myself onto two feet and then rubbed my eyes. All the while, Lyla was gathering things into her bag for the coming day. Taking a good look at my sister, I noticed that she was looking a little green but she was also wearing an extremely baggy shirt. When she noticed me staring at her, she stopped her movements and raised an eyebrow at me.

"Is there a reason you woke me up so early on a day where we not only do not have school, but because I refuse to take exams, have nothing to study for either?" I asked while wincing at the sunlight as it glared in my face. Lyla rolled her eyes at me and didn't respond. Taking a moment to think back on what had happened over the past few days I could think of anything important that was happening today. So I decided to be super annoying and keep asking questions.

When I opened my mouth to speak, however, Lyla cut over me. "There is nothing going on today except that it is raining while sunny, which is a phenomenon in itself and James and Sirius had detention last night. This now means that you have to talk to Sirius because you promised me yesterday after running into a stone wall, that after he was done with detention you would speak to him."

"Oh, yeah, about that. You see I would love to talk to my boyfriend but there's a little problem that I wouldn't know how to bring up." Smiling serenely, I jumped off my bed and threw the pillow at Lyla. "How am I supposed to face him after I accused him of cheating on me with Laura?"

"Well, he doesn't know that you followed him, accused him of cheating, and are now essentially lying by omission but I think you could start by just telling him the truth." She went back to shoving things into her bag while I stood, gob-smacked, at the end of the bed.

Shaking my head, I walked around where I could see her completely. Despite her loose clothing, she looked normal and like she was feeling all right. Just in case, I reached out and tried to feel her forehead. Smacking my hand away from her, she looked back at me with a raised eyebrow. "I'm just making sure you're alright because when have Sirius and I ever been completely honest with each other? Some things are just better left unsaid."

"That's what I thought about the whole pregnancy thing too," Lyla said while pulling slightly at her shirt. Warning signs continued to ding around in my head but I pushed them aside and focused on the incoming advice. "It all worked out in the end though because I told the truth and didn't have any guilt or questions hanging over my head."

I crossed my arms and looked at my sister, who had finished packing her school supplies and was shoving her feet into her sneakers. "Wait, that's it? That's all the advice you have for me? To tell the truth and hope that Sirius gets a good laugh?"

"Maybe not a laugh, but I think if you told him the truth about how you were insecure about all of this then he would definitely understand. Now, I'm going to the library to start studying before Easter exams attack us and you fail your sixth year. I would recommend that you join me." Seeing that I wasn't going to be able to get out of this one and that I would be able to avoid Sirius and think of a solid game plan because he wouldn't step foot in the library, I stomped my foot and shook my blonde hair out of my face.

"Fine, but know that I'm only doing this because it will allow me to avoid Sirius for a bit longer. Give me twenty minutes." Laughing as I walked away, Lyla threw some clothes on my bed and began to look around for my brush and make-up.

"You've got fifteen!" She yelled in after me and I rolled my eyes while turning on the shower and steaming up the bathroom before I got in. Just because she was forcing me to go to the library to study with her dusty books did not mean that I wouldn't make it difficult for her. I was going to need another shower after I came back too. Reminding myself not to listen to Sirius anymore, I took my time shampooing and conditioning and by the time I got out, ten minutes had elapsed. Turning off the shower and grabbing a towel, I dried off before wrapping the towel around me and walking towards the door.

I was not expecting, however, to be attacked by my own sister as I stepped out of the bathroom. "I'm sorry that it has to come to this," Lyla said in a voice that was anything but sorry as she attacked my hair with her wand, drying it successfully and twisting it into a bun/ponytail/impossible hairdo. After that she sat me in my seat at the vanity and attacked my face with her makeup brushes. Then throwing my clothes at me she shoved me back into the bathroom to change and brush my teeth.

"You are a psychopath." I said with wide eyes as I carefully stepped out of the bathroom. My jeans drug the floor and I went in search of my trainers while she sat on her bed reading a magazine. I had to admit though; Lyla did know what she was doing. Instead of looking like a complete hobo, as in my normal attire for Saturday morning, I looked like I could actually be fit for human company today.

Stowing my wand into my still packed school bag, I slipped on my socks and shoes and hung up my towel on the heater next to the window. "Now that you're ready to go," Lyla said in a snappish tone while I walked slowly towards the door. Swinging my bag on my shoulder and looking at my unkempt bed, I wanted desperately to grab my pillow and covers and go to sleep, but I walked on with my sister knowing she'd never let me hear the end of it if I retreated now.

All was calm throughout the Common Room as we (or myself as was the case) made our way stealthily through the couches. So far, I hadn't seen or heard from anyone else in the dorms, which wasn't too unusual for a Saturday morning but was still a bit eerie. Lyla opened the door to the Common Room and when we came out on the other side, I felt myself let out the breath that I didn't know I had been holding. Raising an eyebrow, Lyla sent me a strange look and then rolled her eyes.

"Listen here, Parker, if I'm nervous it's totally your fault. I told you that we shouldn't have been following Sirius around. Just because you wanted to see what was going on," I broke off mid-sentence to grab my shin and begin to hop around. "You stupid whore! That really hurt!"

Continuing to walk, Lyla glanced over her shoulder and shrugged. "It's not my fault that you are a very non-trusting person, but you will not put this one off on me." She walked a few more paces and then stopped to turn around. "Sorry about that," Nodding towards my pulsing shin bone and shrugging, "I'm falling victim to the rage blackouts you so often have."

Grumbling, I stepped lightly and tried to ignore the throbbing pain coming from my lower leg. Maybe I was a lightweight when it came to pain, maybe Lyla wore steal toes; I choose to believe the latter. "Well, I'm not really sure that they're contagious but I'll agree. Don't want to risk another injury." We walked in a relative silence for a few minutes, blindly making turns and following staircases until we reached the library's entrance.

"It never ceases to amaze me that we no longer get lost in this castle." Lyla said as we walked into the library and she nodded towards Madame Pince.

"Speak for yourself," I grumbled as we passed the old librarian, who looked at me and paled significantly. It'd almost been a month since I had made up some lie about pregnant women and the lady still couldn't look me in the eyes. For the hell of it, I put my hand on my lower stomach and smiled brightly. Lyla, seeing my shenanigans, pulled on my arm and walked me through to the study area. Halfway there, I saw someone out of the corner of my eye that caught my attention.

Laura Calloway sat at the same table she and Sirius had shared Thursday night, sitting alone this time and reading a Herbology book. Narrowing my eyes as my stare locked on her form, I stopped completely and crossed my arms as best I could with my bag slung over my shoulder. Before I could walk over and express my rather _strong_ feelings to the fifth year Hufflepuff, my sister once again pulled my arm to a table across the library from Laura.

"What do you think you're doing? Think about this logically before you do anything, Alexa. If you haven't talked to Sirius about spying on him do you think saying anything to Laura is a good idea? You don't have all the facts and you're going to end up making a complete fool of yourself." Sighing and shaking my head no, I slumped in the seat across from my know-it-all sister.

"I wasn't going to say anything mean, I was just going to let her know what was up." Ignoring me, Lyla took out her potions textbook and began to flip viciously through the pages. I watched her for about five minutes as she slipped into study mode and began to tune everything else out. Trying not to lose my focus, I dug around in my bag for a quill, parchment, ink, and my Arithmancy text. About a half hour was spent just staring at the pages of my book, trying to make out what the numbers meant and what the point was, before I gave up completely and began to doodle.

Every time I began to make progress, on a particularly hard drawing or a formula in my text, I kept seeing Sirius and Laura popping into my mind. They would be laughing or touching and before I knew it my blood was boiling. By the time I was about ready to go crazy, Lyla looked up from her finished potions essay and put her quill down. Quickly, I began to write down random facts I had just read on the parchment to look like I was doing something productive. When I was positive she believed my fake studying, I put down my quill and stretched my cramped form.

"Good essay?" I asked and Lyla smiled tightly at me while flicking her wand and correcting a mistake. "I need to go get a book about this formula from the Arithmancy shelves if you want me to grab a book or anything for you while I'm up?" Praying that she fell for the trick, I only felt a little guilty as se waved me off and continued to correct her essay. "Okay, well, I'll just be over here."

Hopping up quickly, I crashed into the side of the desk, jarring the table and sending a wayward inkbottle sliding towards the edge. Lyla caught it without looking up and waved me off once again. Finally, I made it behind the shelves. Acting like I was perusing for a few books, I began to grab random ones and sent a fake smile to a few seventh years that were studying in the rows.

Moseying around like I had no purpose, I ended up conveniently in front of the shelf that was conveniently in front of the table Laura was sitting at. Pulling a few books out where I could see her through the shelves, I watched as she sat idly flipping through a few books and writing things down. Randomly, it looked like she was doing double work, but then again it was easily written off as her catching up. To be honest, I had bigger fish to fry than what type of homework she was doing as well.

Shoving all the books I had had with me, in total about four, into random spots on the shelves, my game plan started to form in my mind. I would talk to her, real friendly, and before she knew it she would be agreeing to step off Sirius because I could be a real jealous girl sometimes. Shaking my bangs out of my face, I casually took a step from behind the shelf and walked passed her table. Then, as if I had just seen her, I stopped and made a big show of seeing her.

"Oh, Laura! I didn't even see you there! What are you doing in the library so early on such a beautiful Saturday?" Startled, Laura turned her murky blue eyes on me as I sat down across from her and folded my hands in front of me. Smiling serenely and possibly a bit creepily, I shrugged my shoulders as she looked at me warily.

Underneath the doe-eyed gaze, I could tell that something calculating and precise was going on. If there was one thing I knew about fifteen year old girls, it was that they were cold-hearted bitches when they wanted to be. And I had a feeling that it was going to come down to that today. Today, however, as there were people around us that were watching curiously we had to be civil.

"Hey, Alexa. I'm just studying for that upcoming Herbology quiz. I'm a bit behind seeing as I just transferred into the advanced class." She smiled shyly at me and I felt my resolve weaken a bit. She looked relatively harmless right now, but deep down I knew that there was just something wrong with her. Internally gathering my resolve, I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms casually.

"Well, if there's anything you need help with you can ask Lyla or myself and we'd be glad to help you." People began to turn back around towards their friends and their own work, leaving us some privacy once they understood that we weren't going to start fighting over Sirius. Yet, anyway, and not at all if I got my way.

Mirroring my pose, Laura crossed her arms over her chest and put her quill down on her parchment. "That's so nice of you, Alexa, I mean Sirius said he would do what he could to help me but he's just so funny sometimes that I couldn't really pay too much attention." Still smiling, I felt my anger begin to bubble up again, but I kept it concealed until I had a chance to actually figure some stuff out.

"He is just the greatest, isn't he? That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about. Were you guys together the other night? It's just that I couldn't find him and he wasn't with the guys or Blair so," I trailed off, pretending to examine my fingernails. There was a moment of tense silence before the look on Laura's face turned to one that I hadn't seen since Bree and Andy were trying to seek revenge. The face was gone quickly though and then she was back to being the timid and stalker-ish fifth year.

"I haven't seen or talked to Sirius since the other day really." She said while sitting up straighter in her seat and twisting her hands in her lap. My eyes narrowed on their own accord and I knew she was lying because I had already seen them together. Not satisfied and feeling like I had to set this girl straight, I put a tense smile back on my face.

"Oh, are you sure that you didn't see him? Because it's just that he came back and smelled like, well, this is going to sound crazy, but he smelled like the library and perfume. Kind of like the perfume you wear; of course, I only know that because when we ran into each other the other day I got some of your lotion on me. It's just that it smelled the same. So I was just checking of course." Smiling again, I sat straight in my seat as she looked at me coolly.

She smiled tightly and then relaxed her body completely. All of a sudden it was like a transformation had happened. Her eyes became calculating, her stance was over confident, and she looked slightly feral. The quiet stare-down continued until I began to feel my hands pull into fists. Finally, and right before I asked the question again, she opened her mouth to speak. "I really have no idea what you're talking about," She said coyly.

Putting my hands down on the table with a sharp slap, I leaned forward to speak to this little brat. "Listen, Laura, I'm not trying to be mean or a bitch, but really this has got to stop. Anyone with eyes can see that you're infatuated with Sirius and that's fine because he's a great guy, but if I catch you sneaking around with him again I will personally see to it that you can not sneak around with him anymore. As in, you won't be able to because you will be incapacitated." My breathing was coming fast as Laura continued to look at me like she was better than me. I don't know why, but my resolve of cool façade dropped.

"Listen, Alexa," She said leaning forward to where we were about a foot apart and throwing my words back in my face. "It's not my fault that Sirius wants to be with someone who is a little more his speed than you. What we have is just fate and I'm sorry but I have done nothing to encourage it, he's just been drawn to me."

Cutting her off, I spoke a little louder than intended. "He is not just drawn to you and it's not fate. Sirius and I are meant to be together and I won't have you screwing that up. Sure we weren't perfect and we won't be perfect but you're not going to come in here and wreck everything that we've been working on. So I want you to listen to me and listen well. Stay away from my boyfriend. That means no more late night study sessions in the library, no more running into him on your way to 'Advance Herbology,'" I said in a snotty voice. People had begun to listen in at this point and I saw Lyla poke her head around the corner and slap a hand over her face. "And no more talking about him like you know him so well."

Standing up, Laura raised her voice a little more taking on an innocent façade again. "I really don't know what you're talking about, Alexa. I didn't mean to do anything wrong." My mouth dropped as I realized that she was going to act like a bipolar weirdo.

"You can't be for real here! You're not some innocent little girl. Stop trying to be one and stop trying to hit on my boyfriend. He has a girlfriend and if he's not happy then that's fine but he can tell me himself. He doesn't need you to walk around throwing yourself at him and trying to get him away from me." I said getting frustrated. At this point, we were both standing and Lyla was shaking her head quickly back and forth telling me to stop. There was no point in that, however, because Laura continued to act like a bumbling idiot.

"I'm not doing anything on purpose. Really, this is all a misunderstanding. Please, just tell me what it is that I've done wrong so I can fix it. There has never been a time in my life that I have wanted to get between you and Sirius. Honest."

"You are crazy!" I exploded. And it was at that point that I realized suddenly why Laura was acting the way she was. The heated stare on my back told me that I should have stayed at my table with Lyla. Spinning around, I felt all the energy drain out of me when I saw Sirius's dark grey eyes. The sniffling behind me told me that Laura had turned on the waterworks and that I had committed a huge girlfriend foul. "Sirius, I,"

"Outside. Now." He turned around and walked quickly out of the library. Standing there like an idiot, I could only spin around and look back towards Lyla, but instead came face to face with Laura. The evil little smirk on her face told me she knew exactly what she was doing. "Game over." She told me and I wanted so badly to hit her, but instead I roped in my anger and stalked out of the library after Sirius.

When I found him he was standing up against the railing of one of the balconies watching me walk towards him with a scowl on his face. "Let me just explain before you freak out." I said as I approached. He raised an eyebrow but said nothing and I remained quiet while trying to formulate something to say. We stood that way, in cold silence, before I finally found some words. "I'm not trying to be a controlling girlfriend, and I'm not saying that I don't trust you, but she's in love with you and you can't see that."

"The only thing that I'm not sure I 'see' right now is why you're freaking out over me having friends? You have friends that I don't freak out about. But the first girl that wants to actually be my friend and you had to accuse her of trying to split us up? You can say what you want but I don't think that you trust me. Otherwise this conversation wouldn't be happening." His voice lacked so much emotion and that made me angrier.

"That's not even true. I don't care if you have friends." Rolling his eyes, he pushed off the banister and walked a little bit away from me, then spun back around and stood with his arms crossed. "Laura is bad news, Sirius. You may not see that now but I'm a girl so I know. She's pitting us against each other because she has some sort of vendetta against me."

Running a hand through his hair, he shrugged his shoulders. "You're the one that sounds paranoid right now, Alexa. You're the one that sounds crazy. Laura and I are friends and you went completely psycho on her back there."

"You've got to be kidding me! I'm the one who's being crazy? You're the one who has been acting so weird lately, doting on Lyla and acting like everything she does is groundbreaking. You're the one that's been having late night study sessions with girls in the secluded library. You're the one that ignores me completely and sends their friends to come after me. You're the one that acts like they don't care." I crossed my own arms and looked at Sirius through teary eyes.

He opened his mouth to speak, closed it, and then opened it again. "First of all, what's going on with Lyla is her business and not mine. I'm just being a good friend. Second of all, you were the one ignoring me. Lastly, how do you know that I was studying with Laura in the library?" Feeling my heart sink, I couldn't come up with any explanation but the truth.

"I was worried about you, okay? You were acting stranger than Merlin and I had to know what was going on so I followed you to the library and saw you two together. Sirius, if you wanted to see her why didn't you just say something? Is this why you've been acting so weird? Do you have feelings for her?" It felt like my throat was on fire as I tried to fight back the stinging in my eyes, the insecurity that I was feeling, and the continuing butterflies of nervousness that were attacking my stomach.

"Is this why you're acting so weird? You _know_ better than to think that I would want Laura over you. I worked my ass off to be with you and now you're telling me you spied on me? You didn't trust me?" He looked so helpless that I didn't know what to say and when I went to take a step towards him, he shook his head. "This is low, Alexa, I thought I had proven myself to you."

"That isn't fair, Sirius," I choked out. "If you had trusted me enough to say something about why you were being so weird none of this would be happening in the first place."

Shaking his head, he pulled his hands through his hair again. "So it's my fault now? This is just like you. Listen, I can't talk about this right now. I need to think."

"Sirius, please don't go; we have to talk about this." I pleaded, but he wasn't listening.

"Right now, I can't even be around you. Relationships shouldn't be this much work, Alexa, and it seems that all we're ever doing is fighting and making excuses." He looked at me, his eyes stormy with emotion and his face perfectly blank. My heart dropped and I suddenly felt like I was going to throw up.

"No, Sirius, don't say stuff like that. It'll work out. It always does."

"Maybe, but right now I need some space." I couldn't say anything as he walked off down the corridor. Standing like a complete idiot, I didn't realize that I was still standing there until Lyla came up to me and wrapped her arm around my shoulders. Turning towards her, I closed my eyes and leaned into her shoulder while trying not to let my tears get all over her.

"Tell me again why you didn't try to stop me? This is basically all your fault." I tried to joke as I took my bag from her and wiped the tears that continued to fall from my damned tear ducts. Rolling her eyes, she linked our arms together and we walked up to the Common Room together.

"Sometimes you really make me want to end your life, but I'll spare you for now." As we walked in through the portrait hole, James and Blair were waiting to ambush us. Turning to Lyla, I felt tears well in my eyes again. "Sometimes I wish you wouldn't." I said tearfully and then turned to face my friends.

Page Break

"Can I talk to him now?"

"No."

Pages rustled as Lyla continued to read. Shifting in my seat, I took a look around the Common Room and practically buzzed with nervous energy.

"What about now? Can I talk to him now?"

"No, Alexa."

"But what about now?" It was about the fifteenth time I'd asked the same question that day, but I couldn't help it. I was dying to know when I could talk to Sirius. He'd said that he wanted space but what did that mean? Did he want space for the rest of the day, the rest of the month, the rest of the year, eternity? The latter seemed pretty harsh but you never know when someone just says 'I need space.'

Putting her book down quietly, Lyla stood up from her seat and came to sit next to me on the couch. Then without warning she shoved my shoulder hard enough to send me flying into the cushions. "Listen here, Alexa, no means no and space means space. He said that he needed space, which means that you need to give him space before you do something to mess things up. Again. I know this sounds harsh but when he wants to talk about it, he'll come to you."

"How do I even know that he doesn't want me to come to him? I mean he's a boy in mentality and all that rot but secretly Sirius is a girly romantic at heart. Maybe he wants me to come after him in some big romantic way that would be just like those old classics." Lyla looked at me like I was crazy and I groaned realizing that I probably was. Folding my hands over my face, I resumed my spot against the couch cushions again. "Why is this so bloody complicated?" I asked no one in particular.

Lyla, of course, was the one to pipe in with advice while Blair watched our exchange with a calculating eye. "It's so complicated because it's love, Alexa, and love is always complicated. That means that it's working and that you're putting effort into it." Rolling my eyes as she patted me on the shoulder, my sister sat back down in her chair and began reading her book again.

I, however, couldn't just let this all go so fast. "Maybe I should just," I started while sitting up straighter. This time it was Blair that stopped me by leaning forward in her seat and bracing her feet against the table.

"I love you to death, Alex, really I do. So this means that I can't allow you to go chasing after some boy. And I know that Sirius most likely isn't just some boy to you and all that other lovey-dovey poetic stuff you two spout, but I know boys and when he's ready he will come to you. In the meantime, you will not go around moping. In case you haven't forgotten, we have a birthday celebration to plan." Yanking a calendar out of her bag, Blair swooped in and began to meticulously lay things out on the table. Looking quickly and covertly between my sister and my best friend, I wondered briefly if someone had switched their brains. Blair was never this organized and planning things just wasn't her style.

I was about to inquire into this new mindset when a shadow was cast upon the table as someone blocked the view of the window that our table hid next to. Looking at the distraction, I almost gasped at the haggard appearance of Bree Williams. Blair and Lyla looked up as well and we all watched with fascination as Bree stood, nervously twisting her hands while she stood in front of us. Right before I stepped in to say something that would have sounded a lot like 'go away' or 'what do you want, cow,' she opened her mouth and began to speak rather quickly.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry to hear about you and Sirius, Alexa. I know how hard it is when he breaks up with you. I also just wanted to let you know that I'm here if you need me and that for once you can actually trust me when I say this." Staring at her blankly, the only thing that registered in my mind was the words Sirius, break-up, and you. It took me a minute to piece together all of the puzzles and when I did my mind went into overdrive, totally forgetting that we weren't even acquaintances anymore.

Standing up quickly, I began to gather my things. "Who told you that we were broken-up? That never happened and whoever said it was a liar just trying to start a rumor that they knew wasn't true. What kind of lying scumbag would say something that was that blatant of a lie? Because that's all that right there is; just a blatant lie that was meant to get back to me and/or Sirius and cause even more trouble." Looking around quickly, I realized that my friends and Bree were looking at me with sorrowful faces.

"Alexa, calm down, alright? Sirius knows that you two aren't broken up and that you're still together," Lyla looked right at Bree as she said this and Bree's eyes widened as she nodded her head quickly. "Everything is fine right now so just sit back down or maybe we could possibly take this upstairs so people don't see what we're doing for Sirius's birthday on Thursday."

Picking up on the hint, Bree sprung into action, brushing off her sweater and putting her hands on her hips. "Don't be bothered on my account, I'm going to be leaving soon as well. Anyways, Alexa, I just wanted to let you know that no matter what happens, through our ups and downs and all that's between, I'm still here for you if you need to talk or if you just want to argue." With a slight smile, she walked off towards the dorms by herself.

Throwing myself back down onto the couch, I ran a hand over my face, smearing the left over mascara from my crying fit yesterday all over my face. "Well, ladies, mark this down as the day that Bree Williams was being nice to me. And not because she was going to get us a drink laced with poison that would eventually secure her world domination either."

"Despite your unorthodox ways of telling that story, you were right." Lyla said and picking up a large, dark pink marker, Blair began to circle the date on the calendar. March 27th, 1976 was marked down as the day Bree was nice to us again. Shaking my head at the fact that Blair didn't catch the sarcasm in my voice, I accepted it and then rose from my seat again.

"You guys can sit here and plan Sirius's party, but I want no part in it. If it's all the same to you I just want to go upstairs and sleep until class starts tomorrow." Once again, the sympathetic looks washed over my friends looked at me. Smiling briefly, I waited until they were getting in to the planning before I made my get away. Acting as if I was going to the girl's dorms, I meandered my away around, acting like nothing was wrong. Then, as covertly as I could, my footsteps carried me up the stairs to the boy's dorms.

Luckily for me, or unluckily in some cases, the dorm was empty which gave me plenty of time to do what I needed. Going over to Sirius's bed, I rummaged around under the mattress until I felt something cool and round. Pulling out the two-way mirror, I slid it into my jeans pocket and then quickly made my way out of the room. As I was leaving, a group of fifth year boys passed by on their way down to the Common Room.

Trying my hardest not to look nervous, I waved slightly before saying, "Rough night, if you know what I mean." The fake grins on their faces and the head nodding showed me that they had relatively no idea what was going on with what I was saying but I let it go as they continued to rough house until they got to the bottom of the dorms. Slowly trying to blend in with the crowd, I kept in line behind the tallest of the fifth years and then bolted up to the Girl's dorms before anyone saw me.

Once safely inside, I closed the curtains on my bed, cast a silencing charm, and pulled the mirror out of my pocket. If I was going to get some answers I was going to talk to the best friend he shared everything with. Taking a deep breath, I muttered, "James Potter." and the messy haired, hazel-eyed boy focused into view.

Surrounded in a dark room, James was smirking slightly as some kind of smoke or fog wafted around him. "To what do I owe this pleasure?" He asked in a very poor Italian accent and I looked through the mirror funnily at him.

"I need some answers." I said back just as cryptically. Nodding and taking a shallow breath, James turned what I was sure was a cough into a raspy voice. "Come to the darkness." He said with a straight face and watery eyes. Making a face, I opened my mouth to question him when he cut across me. "Room of Requirements, twenty minutes, be there." As the screen cut black, I heard a hacking sound and then, "Not as much fog next time, Wormtail! I don't want to die before I mob boss someone!"

Fifteen minutes later found me walking through the corridor and trying not to be seen by anyone who could have been out on this rainy Sunday morning. Looking around quickly, I grasped for the door handle that would lead me in to the Room of Requirements. When I stepped inside a film of smoke that seemed to be covering the room immediately assaulted me. Through the haze of the room I saw James sitting behind a desk with his fingers clasped in front of him and a creepy smile on his face.

"Uhm, hey James, what's all this about?" I asked while walking towards him cautiously. Dropping his whole mob boss persona for a moment, he motioned me forward excitedly. Taking a deep breath and then releasing it, I walked forward and took a seat in front of the desk that James sat behind.

"So you come to me on the eve of my best friend's birthday to ask of me a favor?" Making a temple out of his clasped hands, he nodded inquiringly at me and I scrunched my face up. James continued to look at me funny and when I realized that he wasn't going to speak or say anything else, I leaned forward in my chair.

"First of all, it's not Sirius's birthday tomorrow; that's on Thursday. Second of all, I have no idea what you're on about. Third of all, I am here to ask a favor so you were right about that part." James motioned for me to continue with what I was saying and I rushed on before I could lose my nerve. "It's just that Sirius said that he wanted space but he didn't tell me how much time or space he wanted so I'm kind of just left wondering, you know?"

James raised an eyebrow and then flattened his palms onto the table in front of me. "So what you are saying is that I need to do some Intel and figure out what is going on for you? This is a heady inquiry, Alexa, and I may need a few days to completely comprehend it." Letting out a frustrated sigh, I stood up and leaned across the desk giving James my best 'don't fuck with me' face.

"You're going to do this now because I don't have a few days to wait. And I want you to drop the whole gangster attitude because it's starting to freak me out a little. Understand?" Seeing that I was on the edge of yet another rage blackout, James nodded his head and looked out of the corner of his eye towards the darkness.

"Wormtail, drop the smoke and hit the lights." Suddenly the heady smell of incense ceased and the lights flicked on, flooding the room with bright yellow lighting. Finally able to see my surroundings, I looked around and saw that we were in a little room with sparse furnishing. The ornateness of the desk behind which James was still sitting was astounding and James smiled sheepishly while I looked at him for an explanation. "Well, I read about those old time Italian mobsters in Muggle Studies last year and just now found all my notes from that time. I figured it would be a good idea to test my imagination and knew someone would eventually come to find me."

Rubbing my eyes, I took a deep breath before laughing at my friend. "You are completely crazy and usually you make no sense so I'm going to ignore that this ever happened and just move on to what really matters. Are you going to talk to Sirius or not? And do you know anything at this present time that I could use to fix what I've done?"

James smiled somewhat sadly. "Listen, Alexa, I know that you feel like you need to do something to get Sirius to talk to you again but just listen to me when I say that you need to give him space and let him come to you. Sirius get's really weird when you try to force things upon him and right now when he's in the mood that he's in, it would just be better if you left him to come to you." I frowned slightly, seeing as this was basically the same thing that Lyla told me, and then refuted his argument.

"But what if he wants me to come to him so it's kind of like me proving myself to him. And when I don't show up he'll think that I don't really want to be with him." Wringing my hands nervously in front of me, I gathered my legs up into the chair I was sitting in and James paused to think about what I'd said.

"I can't tell you if you're correct or not because in my experience Sirius has always wanted me to just leave him alone and he would come to me when he was ready, but the situation is different this time seeing as you are a girl _and_ his girlfriend. Maybe you seeing him wouldn't be such a bad thing?" It sounded like James was arguing with himself, trying to convince himself of what was right, and then he looked up at me quickly. "Okay, I'm going to tell you where he is and let you figure this out yourselves. If he doesn't want to be bothered at least he'll know you care, right?"

I nodded quickly and took the Marauder's map from James as he muttered the charm above the paper. "So, I just follow this map to," Consulting the parchment I saw Sirius's name pacing through one of the old classrooms on the third floor. "Third floor, Herbology, and Sirius will be there?"

"Unless he moves, yeah, that's where he'll be. And when you're finished tap all four corners with your wand and say _mischief managed_ and the map will turn off. Also, if anyone else grabs a hold of it, make sure to disenchant it." James nodded and I followed along while standing up and reaching across the desk to give him a hug.

"Thanks again, James. And try a little bit harder on the gangster thing next time. You almost had it." He laughed and I made my way out of the Room of Requirement. Making sure I didn't look too conspicuous holding an old piece of parchment and consulting it religiously every few minutes, I smiled at some of the people I met on the way and even took a few hidden corridors that I didn't even know about before.

I was feeling pretty awesome; that is until I saw that I was right outside of the classroom door that would lead me to Sirius. Feeling my heart start to race, I reached my hand up and knocked slightly on the door. The Sirius on the map stopped pacing and began to make his way to the door and I barely had time to whisper _mischief managed_ before the door was slung open.

I waved the map meekly and Sirius raised his eyebrow before scowling and moving out of the way to let me into the classroom. "What are you doing here, Alexa? I told you that I wanted some space and roughly twelve hours isn't really space." He turned his back towards me and walked over to the window, looking out as the rain lashed the panes.

"Sirius, I know that you said you needed space but I can't just wait in the dark and let you think that I don't care what is going through your head. I love you and just because this happened I don't want you to think that I don't." I stayed where I was because as much as I wanted to go to him I was afraid of being turned away. I could tell when his back tensed up that I had made the right move by staying where I was.

"It's not about the fact that you love me, but more the fact that even though you say that you don't show it very well. Lying to me; not trusting me; spying on me; these aren't great ways to show someone you care." He turned back around to face me looking almost more conflicted than anyone I'd ever seen.

Clutching my arms around myself, I opened my mouth to speak before closing it again. How did I put this without him getting upset again. "It's not that I don't trust you or that I meant to lie to you or that I even meant to spy on you; all of that was an accident. Because I do trust you and I would never purposely lie to you."

"But it happened anyways, Alexa, and as much as you say you're sorry it doesn't take back what you did." He said over what I was saying while shrugging his shoulders as if he didn't know what else to do. Not being able to stand it, I walked up to Sirius and stood looking up at him while trying to make him look at me.

"I know it happened, Sirius; whether or not you want to acknowledge it, I was there. And I was there the night that you two were studying in the secluded library. I saw the look on her face. You can't deny that she has some sort of infatuation with you." Taking a deep breath and trying to get my anger to simmer back down, I grabbed Sirius's arm and tried to hammer home my point once and for all. "I'm sorry for what I've done but I don't regret doing it. She likes you and I'd rather know now rather than later."

Sirius took a breath and looked down at my hand on his arm and then before I knew it, we were looking at each other in some sort of weird 'I'm going to jump your bones but I'm still pissed' war of wills. Without realizing it, the distance between us, physically that is, had lessened considerably and we were pressed up against each other so that every time I took a breath in, my chest rose to meet his own.

"Alexa," Sirius said in a strained voice and I brought my other hand up to brace it against his chest as if I could stop the wild war raging inside of me. "We have to finish this." He continued to speak, one hand coming up to grasp the back of my neck through my mane of hair. I nodded slightly, his fingers catching in my curls and getting tangled by the movement.

He leaned down to kiss me just as I was opening my mouth to speak and we met in a heated kiss that had me clutching his shirt to keep from falling backwards. Falling didn't seem to be on the agenda, however, as he wrapped his other hand around me and pulled me up so I was standing on my tiptoes. Sliding my hand over his arm, I wrapped my arms around his neck as he pushed me back towards the windows. Before either of us knew what was happening, my back was pressed up against the window pane, the rain lashing behind me as every so often the lightening would illuminate the sky.

Dropping his hands from my hair, they immediately went to the hem of my t-shirt, quickly shedding me of it while I tugged at his strands of ebony hair when my arms were lifted above my head. As quickly as my shirt had come off, Sirius shed himself of his offending covers. Taking the initiative, I started to trail kisses from his jawline and down his neck until finally he took my face in his hands and brought his mouth to mine.

Not really sure of what had happened between our arguing and now, I wrapped one leg around his waist to get closer. Understanding the hint, he trailed his hand over my leg until he grabbed my knee to lift me up so he was holding me. Using the wall as leverage, he held tight to my waist while we continued to kiss. When he released my mouth and began to make his way down my neck, I couldn't contain my gasp.

"Sirius, we're in the middle of a classroom," I tried to reason as his hands slid up from my waist to the underside of my breasts. He hummed in assurance and then suddenly we were moving and I was seated on the abandoned desk behind which one of our teachers had once sat. My face flamed red as I thought about this but as soon as I thought it the idea was gone as old tables were transfigured into blankets and pillows.

Spreading the more comfortable items around on the ground, Sirius smirked, proud of himself for the quick thinking. Once again there was nothing I could do as he reached for me and in one swift move had us on the soft cushions that were cocooning us. Pretty soon my thoughts, worries, and anything else I was thinking had been replaced by the feelings that I could only have when he was around.

Half an hour later as we laid together in the dark classroom, the only light offered being the occasional flashes of lightening and the only sound from brief tremors of thunder, I held on to Sirius listening to his very steady heartbeat while he kept a strong hand on my back. Wanting so badly to say something, I kept going over things to say in my head while keeping my mouth shut. Whatever had just happened between us was not resolved and it was not going to be better just because we had sex.

Just as I had gathered up the courage to say something, which basically consisted of me groveling for forgiveness, there was a knock on the classroom door. Obviously since no teacher would knock on an empty classroom's door, it had to be someone we knew. Using his wand to _accio_ the Maruader's Map from its place on one of the desks, Sirius muttered the incantation and cursed. Then without preamble he jumped from his spot on the floor, jarring me as I scrambled for some sort of covering to shield my body, and began to hastily get dressed.

"Where are you going?" I asked hesitantly, thinking that whatever, or whoever as the case may be, had knocked on the door was not a good thing. Ducking as my t-shirt, bra, jeans, and knickers were thrown at me, I looked cautiously to see Sirius trying to flatten down his now unruly hair.

"I have something to do," Sirius said cryptically and I was about to argue, to tell him to stay, when the door opened cautiously and someone poked their head inside. My jaw probably came unhinged when I saw Laura's mousy brown hair and dull blue eyes.

"More like someone," Covering my mouth quickly, I saw Sirius's face turn into a scowl while I tried to cover myself. "Sirius, we still have to finish what we were talking about." My voice was almost pleading and Sirius obviously could tell but he looked quickly at Laura. Feeling my heart drop slightly at the fact that my boyfriend was having to debate over this girl and his girlfriend, I wrapped the blanket more tightly around me as Laura said, "I can come back later."

Sirius opened his mouth, closed it, and ran his hands through his hair again. Seeing that he had to make a decision, I stood up and tried to hastily dress while keeping covered. Hell, at this point I couldn't have gotten out of there fast enough. "It's fine, Laura. I was just leaving. Sorry to delay whatever it is that you two are planning on doing."

"Alexa, don't be like this. You know there's nothing happening here." Sirius said with a long-suffering sigh. Blinking back what I was sure were going to be a waterfall of snot inducing, ugly face making tears, I gave him an extremely brief fake smile while I dropped the blanket and threw my t-shirt over my head. Buttoning my jeans, I searched fruitlessly for my socks before giving up and slipping on my trainers while he and Laura watched.

"It's fine, Sirius, because you're right. There's nothing going on here," Gesturing between the two of us, I tried to stop my voice from shaking, "Anymore. I tried to fight for you but you can't see it. I'm done with this." Then turning to Laura, I nodded briefly. "You win."

Sirius reached out for me as I walked by and I shrugged out of his reach while Laura stood watching me with a slightly stunned face. Obviously she thought there was going to be more of a fight this time, but I was finished playing the crazy, non-trusting girlfriend. If no one was going to believe me, hear me out, or even try to see my point of view there really was no point anymore. Closing the classroom door behind me, I waited with sinking hope for Sirius to come out the door after me.

There was a slight movement at the door and then nothing. Choking back a sob, I practically ran back to the Common Room where I burst in through the doors and ran up the stairs, past my shocked best friends, and into the dorm room's bathroom. Sinking down against the door, it wasn't long before there was a pounding on the door I was leaning against.

"Open it, Alexa, or I'll blow it off the hinges." The sound of my sister's voice caused me to cry harder and I did as she said because even in my hysterical state I knew she would make good on the threat. It wasn't long before she had gathered me in her arms, Blair on my other side, while Remus and James stood awkwardly above us.

"Tell us what's wrong, love," Blair coaxed after my sobs subsided into hiccups and the occasional tears. I shook my head, not wanting to relive the humiliation. The sincere look on her face, however, had me spilling my guts. And I mean telling all. James and Remus both sat down as I began to tell what had gone down over the last couple of days and by the end of my story I was in tears again.

"So we broke up." I muttered while I put my hands over my face so my ugly crying face didn't scar the boys. Blair and Lyla began again with the comforting words and the shushing sounds that seemed to only make me want my mother. Once the tears had reduced to a stream instead of a river, I wiped my eyes with the sleeves of my t-shirt.

Remus was watching me curiously and finally he opened his mouth to ask the question that I knew everyone else wanted to ask. "Why exactly did you give up, Alex? I mean, don't get me wrong, but that's not really your style is it?"

"I don't even know, Remus. He was going to choose and when it came down to it there was no way I was going to give him an ultimatum. They backfire and he would have chosen Laura and the pain from that," I stopped and took a deep, shuddering breath as the damned thunder from outside sounded loudly. "It hurts too much to see another girl look at him the way I do. And it hurts that he doesn't seem to mind."

James, who had been surprisingly quiet through all of this, stood up quickly and looked at me for a long time. "You're being stupid, Alexa. Right now you're acting like a little girl who hasn't gotten her way."

"James!" Blair said while Lyla gripped me closer and I looked at James in shock. The reprimand didn't seem to bother James, however, as he continued to talk.

"It kills Sirius when anyone so much as looks at you the wrong way. And for you to not trust him, to go around accusing him of things that you have no evidence on, is wrong. And here you are playing the martyr. What do you think this is going to do to him?" The angry way James was talking had my already unstable emotions hitting rock bottom as I stood up from Lyla's hold.

"If he was so upset then why did he let me go? He sat there and _watched me leave_." I said angrily while crossing my arms and holding onto myself. "He loves me so much that he didn't care that I was upset over this? Is that what love is, James? So while I'm up here crying my eyes out he's down in some abandoned classroom with the girl who would do anything to see us break up. Excuse me if I play the martyr but my boyfriend chose another girl over me while he acted like it was nothing the whole time."

James scoffed and rolled his eyes before raising his voice slightly to match my own. "You didn't give him the chance to choose! And if you had he would have chosen you. Everyone in this room knows it. So forgive me if I don't just rush to your defense while you've probably just crushed my best friend's heart."

"He didn't care, James!" I almost shouted and then suddenly, it was like I had no more energy. Stepping back, I felt the doorknob on my back and opened the door slightly. "He didn't even care. He watched me go with Laura at his side. Excuse me," I said while stepping into my room and going to my nightstand for parchment and a pen.

There was as scrambling at the door and Lyla was at my side once again. "Alexa, what are you doing? You know that James was just upset. He knows that Sirius is in the wrong here and it's going to all be okay, but you need to stop being so frantic, okay? You're scaring me." Slowing my movements, I grabbed a light sweater from one of my drawers before looking back at my sister.

"I'm going to be fine. There's something I need to do really quickly and then I'll be back. But right now, I just want to be alone." Lyla looked like there was something she wanted to say but then she nodded and let me go. Ignoring everyone else as they stood in the doorway, I left the dorm room and made my way into the crowded Common Room. Then, I hightailed it out of there into the empty corridor.

Looking both ways to make sure no one was coming, I slid behind an old tapestry and hit the stone behind it with my wand. The stones began to jump around revealing a slight passage that would take me to the first floor. After a short downhill walk, I stepped out from behind a sister tapestry and made my way to the entrance hall where I slipped outside into the raging storm.

Resigning myself to getting soaked, I walked to the owlrey slowly. Once inside the extremely high and extensive tower, I used a drying charm to dry both the parchment and myself then started to write at one of the many benches staggered around the rooms. By the time I was finished, the storm that was raging outside had turned into a light drizzle and after sending my letter with Cleo, I walked back to the castle quickly.

Page Break

Monday night, after a bleak day that had ended with me almost tearing some girl's hair out when she asked if it was cool for Sirius to date so soon after we'd broken up and having to eat in the kitchen every meal because I'd had enough of the pitying stares, I joined my friends in the boy's dormitories to help plan the party. I had also come to the conclusion that I'm a masochist because apparently I liked the feeling of having my heart ripped out multiple times a day. James continued to watch me as Remus and Lyla argued over the theme for the party while Blair made out a list of people that were acceptable and in high enough standards to come to the party. This meant no one younger than their fifth year and no one that couldn't hold their liquor and tended to make complete fools of himself or herself; with the exclusion of us, of course.

"Alexa," looking up at the mention of my name, I saw that James was looking at me expectantly and like he had something to say. I nodded for him to go on as I tried to contain a yawn. "Listen, I was really out of line last night. Once I thought about the situation I realized that Sirius really should have come after you. And, yeah, I'm just sorry. I won't meddle in it anymore."

Sitting still for a moment, I felt my friend's eyes on me and then I smiled. "James, you know I'll always forgive you. And please meddle in my life, otherwise it would be inappropriate for me to meddle in your own life." He returned my smile and just like that we were back to normal. If only it could be that easy for everything else.

"Lyla, we are not going to have a pirate theme for Sirius's 17th birthday." Remus said in an outraged voice while Lyla put her hands on her hips like my mother does when she gets angry.

"Remus, don't you believe that you should rethink that tone?" The raised eyebrow was enough to send Blair, James, and I to change the subject as quickly as possible.

"What about drinks?"

"Are there going to be girls at this party?"

"Who wants to go get something to eat?"

Blair and I looked at James like he had lost his mind while Remus and Lyla dropped their petty argument and joined us in watching James, who was looking for all the world like he had not just said that. "James, of course there are going to be girls at the party. Girls are helping to plan the party, are they not?" Lyla asked in her mothering tone, the one she used when we asked a blatant and obvious question.

"Well, yeah, but," He sheepishly looked at Lyla who raised her eyebrow again. "I was just asking." He mumbled. I couldn't contain the smile on my face while Blair rolled her eyes and put her arm around James before giving him a swift hug and ruffling his hair. They started a cute little flirt fest and Remus, Lyla, and I went back to party planning.

"Maybe the party should just be that; a party. No theme, no special games, just a birthday party for Sirius's closest friends. But if you really want to do something special why not make him his own drink?" I hastily added when I saw the looks on Remus's and Lyla's faces.

"That actually sounds excellent," Blair said while moving her list of invitations to the side and starting a new list for ingredients to Sirius's signiture drink. "We can call it Orion's belt; totally cheesy and cliché but perfect for Sirius."

"And it should be something like funny, but mysterious; where no one will no what the ingredients are but it will taste really good." Lylal said, sitting back down while James and Remus went to grab supplies from their trunks. After a various assortment of drinks and mixes were placed in front of us, we got to work on adding differing ingredients in various amounts in the bottom of an old cauldron Remus promised was clean.

When it was finished, the purplish concoction swirled inside the pot and James used a ladle to spoon a sip into each small glass he produced from the bathroom. He hesitated slightly, but gave Lyla a cup as well and then we all cheers-ed and took a drink. All and all, besides the burning in my throat and esophagus, the drink wasn't that bad. It tasted like cherries and pineapple with a hint of something smoky. A weird combination, but at the same time it was good.

"Not bad, you guys." I said after putting my cup down.

"Besides the fact that I'm going to have to do a detox after drinking that because my insides are on fire, it wasn't half bad." Remus said as well, rubbing his sternum while James winced slightly as he stuck his tongue out.

"So possibly a bit lighter on the alcohol." He spoke in a raspy voice. Blair, who hadn't spoken, swirled whatever was left in her cup and then nodded. "Definitely lighter on the alcohol," She choked out before coughing. We all looked to Lyla for the final verdict but she still hadn't taken a drink out of her cup.

"Well, Lyls, what's the verdict?" I asked anxiously. She swirled the cup around, her face going blank and then she tried to smile.

Pouring the cup back out, she clasped her hands and smiled fully. "I can't drink this." She said before looking at Remus whose eyes had widened to about three times the size of normal eyeballs. "You guys I can't drink this."

"Well, if it was that bad you could have just said something." James said slightly offended. Blair looked back and forth between Remus and Lyla, ignoring James just as something came rushing back to me and the past few days began to actually click in my mind.

"No," I said with a gasp and Lyla looked at me with bright eyes. "You can't be serious right now. You're sixteen!" I choked out and Lyla nodded while trying not to cry; whether from happiness or sadness I couldn't tell.

"Can someone please inform me of what the bloody hell is going on here!" Blair shouted and James rolled his eyes at his girlfriend before thwacking her on the arm.

"Lyla's preggo, Blair-bear." Blair's mouth dropped open and my own mouth did as well. I couldn't freaking believe it. And that's why Sirius had been so weird. He knew. James knew. Remus knew. Lyla knew. Probably freaking Dumbledore knew. My mind was reeling; there was a baby inside of my sister. She was holding a child inside of her body and nourishing it through herself. No wonder she'd been wearing baggy clothes lately.

"But you weren't pregnant." I tried to reason. She shrugged her shoulders slightly and gripped Remus's hand tight. "The tests are sometimes wrong." Lyla explained. Then she looked at Blair again and her gaze traveled between the two of us. "Well, please say something. What are you thinking?"

"Holy mother fucking shit." Blair exclaimed before promptly throwing her hands around Lyla and crying. I couldn't help myself and did the same. Lyla began to sob and before I knew it, we were all crying and talking at the same time. No matter what, though, I knew this baby was going to be fortunate enough to have five great aunts and uncles. We had just started to calm down when the door opened and Sirius stood there looking skeptical at the three crying girls in the middle of his room, surrounded by a potion and two of the Marauders.

"What the hell is going on in here?"

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AmuletGirl's AN: Well, it is finally done! This was a pretty emotional chapter to say the least, but I know I enjoyed it. There are some pretty exciting things in store for the future so get ready for the excitement! Thank you all for reading and reviewing, but we could use more reviews (hint hint). Any feedback is much appreciated. I hope you all are well. Peace and Blessings!


	34. The Worst Part

Amulet Girl's Author's Note: So ladies and gentlemen, this is the first chapter of us being away at college. It's a bit more difficult with us being apart, sad I know, but hopefully that will be changing soon. So anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter and please bear with us if the updates take a bit longer. We love you all!

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_The Worst Part_

_Lyla's Point of View_

I came out of the bathroom and found Alexa sitting on the floor in front of the full-length mirror and Blair sitting on her bed painting her nails. Blair wore a grey tank top tucked into a multicolored floral skirt and Alexa sported a beautiful lavender dress that almost made her blonde locks shimmer like gold. I hung the towel I had just used over the side of my bed and collected my sapphire ring and a pair of earrings from my jewelry box. Standing behind Alexa, I used the same mirror to loop the simple silver earrings through the holes in my ears. Alexa was applying some lip-gloss to her lips.

"Alexa, that's a great color on you," I told her as I slipped on my ring and straightened the top of my midnight blue empire waist dress. I pulled at the material around my midsection, making sure no one would be able to tell I was pregnant. I found myself doing this a lot lately; I had become so paranoid about it. Remus kept telling me that I wasn't showing, but I swear I had a slight bump.

Her eyes flicked up and gave me a look. "You really think so?" she asked. "You're not just lying about it or keeping how you really feel to yourself. Maybe I should ask Remus, Sirius, James or Peter, I'm sure you told them." I frowned slightly at her. This had been going on since she found out I was pregnant. I know she was upset that I hadn't told her but I had my reasons for keeping this from everyone.

"Alexa, you know that I wanted to tell you and Blair, and technically I did tell you, you just didn't remember," I pointed out. "Remus and I just weren't ready to tell anyone yet. Unfortunately, Sirius remembered when I told you two and James and Peter just sort of figured it out."

Alexa looked down at her lap and twisted the cap back onto the tube of gloss. I looked over to Blair who had taken the news significantly better than Alexa had. She was still in a bit of shock, but then again, so was I to a certain extent. Blair was a bit angry about my secret keeping at first but she got over it as she began to realize that she was essentially going to be an aunt. She was already bothering me about names, colors for the nursery and presents that she was going to by for it.

"Honestly, that's what upsets me more than anything," Alexa said quietly. "I'm not mad that you didn't tell me right away, I understand that that was something very personal between you and Remus. What kills me is that James and Peter figured it out and I didn't! I didn't even know that my own sister was pregnant." She whispered this last word. "I feel terrible that I wasn't there for you. You're always there for me with my stupid problems and then you have this colossal issue going on and I can't even catch on to all the obvious hints. I have failed you as a friend and sister."

I sat down next to her and gave her a smile taking her hand in mine. She was being far too hard on herself. "You and Blair were there for me the first time around, and that's when I needed you most. I was in a bad place, Remus and I weren't really together and you two were the only people I had at the time. This time Remus was there, so that helped, I wasn't alone. And don't feel bad about not being able to tell, it really hasn't been that obvious," I told her as Blair came over to join us.

"Thinking back on it now," Blair said, "It actually was pretty obvious. We just thought there was no way that you could be because of that test that you took, so we just thought it must be something else. I mean you still had all the classic signs and you were acting so strange."

Alexa squeezed my hand. "I know we haven't really talked about this much, but just know, that no matter what, Blair and I are always here for you," Alexa said supportively.

"I know," I said getting up from my spot on the floor. I couldn't help but think that I wouldn't be able to do that with the same ease in a couple months. "But right now, we do not need to be worrying about me." I helped pull Alexa up and placed my hands on her shoulders forcing her to focus on me. "It's you we need to be worried about. Are you going to be able to get through tonight?"

Alexa looked away and her face saddened. "You and Sirius haven't talked since Sunday, I can completely understand if you don't want to go tonight," Blair chimed in. "We will stay up here with you if that's what you want." I nodded my head in agreement.

Alexa shook her head quickly and put a smile on her face. "No, no, I'm fine, I swear. It's Sirius's birthday and even though we have hit a bit of a rough patch, I still care for him and want to celebrate his birthday with him." I gave her a skeptical look. I have learned by now that even when Alexa says she's fine, she usually isn't. Obviously picking up on my concern she added. "I can handle myself, promise." I nodded my head in belief. "But back to you, my dear sister," she continued leading me other to her bed. "How are you doing? I don't think we've asked you that since we found out."

And there it was; the question of a lifetime. How was I doing? Sometimes I honestly didn't know how to answer that question. I'm a pregnant teenager who is completely lost and has no control over her life anymore and when her parents find out, she may ultimately lose her life. Since when did my life turn into a soap opera? The only thing I could really find comfort in now is that my baby's father was still with me, at least for now. "I suppose I'm doing alright," I told them, my tone very unconvincing.

"Lyla," Alexa said sternly. "You don't have to pretend with us. You can just let it all out." I suddenly felt tears building up in my eyes.

I sucked in a quick breath and brought my hand to my mouth quickly. And then, I lost it. Blair and Alexa sat on either side of me and rubbed my back comfortingly. "I'm terrified, I am slowly starting to realize that my life as I know it is over, I'm going to be as huge as a blimp in no time, and I feel like I'm being selfish because I'm sad about losing my own life." Alexa and Blair nodded in understanding. "But then," I said with a slight smile, "I am so excited about what I'm gaining. It might sound crazy but I want to have this baby, I can't wait to meet him or her."

"You shouldn't feel selfish, Lyls," Blair said. "It is perfectly normal for you to be feeling these things, this is a huge change. You don't have to be happy all the time, it's okay to be angry and sad."

"I just feel that I need to be strong for Remus and that I have to remain positive about this so Remus won't have any doubts," I told them. "I don't want him to leave me because of this."

"Lyls, Remus is never going to leave you. Even with the whole Lucas thing, he never really left," Alexa said. "I think you and Remus just need to sit down and be honest with each other." I knew she was right.

I shook my head and wiped my eyes with a laugh. "Gosh, I'm a mess," I breathed out. "The morning sickness has stopped, but I swear I'm ten times more emotional." Alexa and Blair laughed at this. "Well, no matter what, I know that this little boy or girl," I said placing a hand on my stomach, "is going to have the two best aunts in the world."

"And no doubt the best mom," Blair added. The three of us embraced and held each other tightly.

"Now come ladies," Alexa said breaking the clasp and smoothing her hands over her lavender cotton dress. "James will be bringing Sirius in any minute now and we don't want to miss the surprise. And besides, everyone knows that it's really not a party until we show up." We all started laughing and then headed down the stairs to the common room.

The common room was already filled with people there to wish Sirius a happy birthday. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and several were already sipping on Sirius's custom drink. We walked through the crowd and found a relatively empty space right by the door. "I can't believe this many people showed up," Blair gushed. "This is a great turnout!"

"There are more people from other houses than I expected," Alexa said scanning the room. She looked like she was looking for something in particular, but I wasn't quite sure what she was after.

"The drink seems to have been a hit as well," I said noticing all the people with drinks. "That was truly a brilliant idea, Alex." Alexa just shrugged her shoulders as if she already knew that.

"Yeah, it's smooth going down, could potentially numb your insides if you consume enough and it has the promise to get you drunk as hell. Sirius in a nutshell," Alexa said with a slight smile. Blair blushed slightly and I shrunk back in disgust.

"I really do not need to know any of this," I told Alexa, wrinkling my face. "Oh, I'm scarred for life, thank you." Alexa gave me a smile and a wink. "Just remember what happens when you get too friendly," I reminded her looking down at my stomach.

"Yeah, yeah," she said rolling her eyes. "I'm not really too concerned about us getting too friendly right now."

Suddenly the door opened and Remus and Peter came running in. "Okay James is on his way up here with Sirius," he informed us. "We need to somehow tell everyone so they're prepared to surprise him."

Alexa nodded her head and then step up onto one of the nearby chairs. She took a deep breath, "Everyone shut it!," she yelled. The chatter quickly died down and all eyes shifted toward my eloquent sister. "Sirius is almost here, so when he does arrive, I want every single person to yell 'Happy Birthday!' at the top of their lungs." The crowd nodded their heads and mumbled their compliances. "Great, thanks for your attention." She stepped down with the help of Remus and gave us a smile, obviously pleased with herself.

"Well, that will do it," Remus said jokingly. Remus stepped behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist as we all waited anxiously for Sirius to arrive. A few moments later we heard the portrait hole open and we began to quietly shush the groups of people around us. It became eerily quiet in the common room and we could hear James and Sirius.

"Prongs, mate, why are you covering my eyes?" Sirius asked James.

"Well, you see, I heard that the seventh year girls were protesting having to wear clothes, so if there are any of them in the common room I wouldn't want you looking at naked women who aren't your girlfriend. My eyes are closed as well, don't worry," James replied. Oh, Merlin. "I know Blair would be furious if I saw any other woman's body beside hers." I looked to Blair who was blushing furiously. Several people were eyeing Blair and snickering slightly.

"That is completely insane," Sirius said. Great, he knows something is up and the surprise is going to be ruined. I knew James should never have been in charge of making sure Sirius didn't find out about the party; but he had insisted. They came into view and were almost in the main room of the common room. "How could I have not heard of this sooner? I am going to have a talk with some people about this." Unbelievable. He bought it. I looked over at Alexa who's expression was unwavering. James and Sirius were now standing right in front of us. James gave us a big smile and waited for our okay to remove his hands. "James, why have we stopped?"

I gave James a nod and he returned it. He removed his hands and Sirius's eyes widened in surprise as everyone yelled, "Happy birthday, Sirius!" Clapping and cheering followed as Sirius continued to just look around at all the people. At first I thought maybe he was mad but then a smile spread across his face and he turned to us. "You guys!" he said going in for the hug. He captured Remus and me first and squeezed us tight. "Thank you so much," he said.

Almost immediately, Sirius was surrounded and dragged away by some party guests to share their well wishes. I looked over to Alexa who was looking forlorn. Sirius still hadn't said a word to her and I could tell it was getting to her. "Alex," I said placing a hand on her arm.

"I'm fine," she said. "Everything's fine," she repeated. "Excuse me." She turned and disappeared into the crowd. I looked up to Remus who shared my same concern. Things were bad between Sirius and Alexa, and there didn't seem like there was anything any of us could do, which made it that much harder for all of us.

We mingled around for a while but the noise and excitement was becoming too much. My headache was growing and I was growing a bit tired of having to constantly tell people that I didn't want a drink. Remus found me again a while later. "So, the party turned out to be a great success," he said.

"Yeah, everyone seems to be enjoying themselves," I said with a fake smile. I loved Sirius and I was glad he was having a wonderful birthday, but I wanted to leave and get some quiet so badly.

He raised his eyes at me and gave me a smile. "You want to get out of here and maybe take a walk?" he asked.

I let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, I thought you'd never ask," I told him thankfully, placing a kiss on his cheek. "I'm going to go give Sirius his present and then we can leave."

"Okay, and I'll go tell James just so he knows where we'll be if anyone starts looking for us," he said. I nodded my head and then set off through the throng of partiers to find Sirius. After much looking, I finally found Sirius surrounded by several people who were drinking the custom drink we had made.

"Sirius," I said tapping him on his shoulder. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" I asked.

"Oh, Lyls, of course," he said. "Excuse me," he told the people and then stepped to the side with me. "What's up?"

"Well, I just wanted to go ahead and give you your present," I told him. "Parties and I don't really mix well anymore," I joked with him.

"Now, you know you didn't have to get me anything, this party is enough," he told me. "Thank you for this again, by the way. I know I said I didn't want anything, but I'm glad you guys didn't listen."

"You know we couldn't let you turn seventeen without making a big deal about it. Plus, you know James will use any excuse to have a party," I said, Sirius smiled and nodded his head. " Now, this present isn't anything big, but I needed to give you this," I assured him. He nodded his head. I pulled him into a hug and squeezed him tight. He returned my hug. "I give you this birthday best friend hug today to thank you for everything." Sirius laughed and held me tighter. "Remus told me that you knew the whole time and I just want to thank you for all your help and keeping it all a secret, it really meant a lot. I could never properly thank you for what you've done."

I pulled away slightly to look at his face. "Lyla, this was more than enough, and probably the best present I've ever received," he said with a smile. "I'm happy for you and Remus, you two belong together and will make wonderful parents. And if you ever need anything, don't hesitate to ask me." I nodded my head and then gave him another quick hug. "Unless it's changing diapers, I don't know if I could handle that quite yet." I laughed slightly and assured him he wouldn't have diaper duty until he was ready.

"Well, I'm going to meet Remus, enjoy the rest of the party," I told him. "Make sure you thank _everyone_ who came. I know they all would love to hear from you," I advised him, hoping he would catch my drift. He gave me a smile and then vanished into the crowd.

I quickly made my way to the portrait hole where Remus was waiting for me with one of my sweaters. "Here, I had Blair go get this for you," he said handing me the grey garment.

"Thank you," I said taking his hand in mine.

"Come on let's go take a walk outside," he said leading me down the corridor.

The night air was crisp and cool and the moon was so bright that we didn't need any additional light to see. The sky was completely void of any clouds and it seemed that every star in the sky had come out for Sirius's birthday.

We took our usual path down to the lake and we just walked together in silence. That's one of the things that I've always loved about our relationship. We didn't have to talk all the time; we were perfectly content just enjoying each other's company. We took a seat on the bench we always sat on and stared out at the calm mirroring lake. Remus put one arm around my shoulders and the other took one of my hands.

"Remus," I said breaking the silence for the first time. As much as I didn't want to have this particular conversation right now, I knew that we had to sort some things out. He nodded, which told me to continue. "Well, Easter break is coming up, and I think we should at least have some sort of plan in mind for the baby. Our parents might be a little less mad if we have even a slight idea of what the hell we're doing. It would also make me feel a bit better if we started a plan."

He shifted his body slightly so he could see me better. "You're probably right," he said in agreement. "I've been thinking about it for a while, but I didn't want to rush you, I knew you would come to me when you were ready to talk about it."

"Yeah, I would have come to you sooner, but after thinking about it, I still had no idea what to do," I told him honestly. "I'm not used to this. I'm always the one who knows what to do. I'm the one who always cleans up Alexa's messes, now she might have to help clean up mine."

"I know it's hard, I'm just as clueless about all this as you are, but we can figure it out together," he said encouragingly. "We may mess up and do everything completely wrong, but I will always love you and I know that we will always love our child. To me, that seems like a pretty good start. This is a whole new adventure for us and we will get through this just like we've gotten through everything else."

I smiled and nodded. The question that had been eating me away since I found out that I was pregnant popped into my head and I looked down at my lap. "Do you want to keep the baby?" I asked in almost a whisper still looking down. Part of me wanted him to say yes, but then there was a small part that wanted him to say no, and that killed me. Please don't think I'm a terrible person. I deep down wanted my baby and I loved it with all my heart; but I also knew that this would all be easier if we gave the baby up for adoption. I also couldn't help but think that the baby would be better off with other people as parents. People who weren't sixteen and still in school. People with a house and a front yard, maybe even a swing in the backyard.

He didn't respond right away. I felt his fingers touch my cheek and then they moved to my chin, lifting it so I was looking at him. I searched his face for an answer, but I couldn't read him. "Lyla, I am fully prepared to take you as my wife and to raise our child." Well, shit. I did not see this coming at all. What the hell just happened? I felt my mouth drop open and my eyes widen. Remus just sat there looking at me. I looked around me to see if anyone was watching as if this were a joke. Any moment I knew James, Sirius and Peter would jump out from behind trees and yell 'got you!' He couldn't really be doing what I thought he was doing. We were only sixteen for Merlin's sake! Then again, I was sixteen and pregnant so age really didn't seem like a huge concern at this point. "Lyla, are you okay?" he asked, bringing me out of my head.

"Are you proposing to me?" I asked still shocked. What else would he be doing? Man, Alexa was rubbing off on me way too much.

"What if I am?" he asked turning me toward him. His eyes narrowed as if that question was somewhat of a challenge.

I quickly stood up and started to pace. "No," I said loudly. Wait, what did I just say. I literally lost all control over my body and brain. It was acting on it's own and nothing was making sense anymore. This should be interesting.

"No you won't marry me?" Remus asked getting up to follow me.

"No," I said again. "Yes," I corrected, "Wait." Now I've just confused myself. I stopped, closed my eyes, and brought my hands up to my head. "What I'm trying to say is that this isn't how it's supposed to be. I don't want you to marry me because I am going to be giving birth to your child. I want you to marry me because you love me. If you think you'll only be a part of the child's life if we're married, you're wrong. You are the father whether we are married or not."

Remus quickly shook his head. He rushed over to me, grabbed my upper arm on both sides and lowered his head to look at me. "You're completely missing the point," he told me. "Baby or no baby, I want to marry you. I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you from the first time I met you in the library. Do you remember that?"

I smiled as I remembered that day. Remus had bumped into me, knocking all the books out of my hands. I remember smiling at him. His face turned blood red and he nervously ran out of the library. "How did you know that? We were only in first year, Remus," I pointed out.

"That doesn't matter," he said. "I just knew from that day on that I wanted you to be my wife and I still feel that way today." I just continued to look at him. I didn't know what to say.

"Remus, I won't lie," I started, "I have thought about marrying you and it's what I've always wanted too." Remus smiled slightly, hopeful about what I was saying. "But I don't want to rush this, I don't want a quick wedding because I'm having a baby." What I was going to say next, honestly pained me to even think about it. "Maybe we should just wait a while. You know, I don't think this will happen, but what if you decide don't want a child or a wife at age seventeen or eighteen? It would just be a lot easier if we weren't married. I don't want you to feel like you're trapped." I felt the tears rolling down my face.

His eyes were sad, but not angry. He took my hands and led me back to the bench. He sat me down gently and sat down next to me. "I will never grow tired of you or our child," he said brushing the wet tracks from my cheeks. "And if I'm going to be tied down, I wouldn't want to be tied to any other person other than you. I want you to trap me and keep me forever." I'm pretty sure I was sobbing now. The tears just continued to roll from my eyes and I had to take deep breaths to try and clam myself down. "I want you to have your dream wedding and I will make sure that you get exactly what you deserve."

Remus slowly got up and stood before me. He dropped down onto one knee and took my hand in his. "Let's try this again, shall we?" he said laughing a bit. "I know I'll never be good enough for you and that you deserve so much better than me. For some reason, you have chosen me and everyday I am thankful for that. Our situation is not ideal, to say the least, but I'm glad that I am in this situation with you. I'm sorry that you got stuck with a werewolf, but that's only a part of me, the main part of me is you and has always been you." I still couldn't believe this was happening to me, but I was so glad that it was. I was more sure now than ever that this was the right thing for me. "So, I will ask you again. Lyla Madison Parker, will you marry me and let me love you for the rest of my life? Will you build a family with me and allow me to be your husband and best friend?" With his free hand, Remus reached into his pocket and pulled out a black velvet box.

I gasped, genuinely surprised. He opened the box and inside was the most beautiful ring that I had ever seen. I thought the ring he had given me for Christmas was stunning, and it was, but this was on a whole new level. There was a large square cut diamond in the center and smaller diamonds lining the band all the way around. "My mother gave me this ring when I hit puberty," he laughed. "She has been waiting ever since for the day that I would find the girl to give this to. It was hers and I know that she would be proud to have you wear it."

"Did you know that you were going to do this tonight?" I questioned. Probably not the best time for such questions, but I couldn't help my curiosity.

"No, it just kind of happened. But I have been thinking about this and carrying the ring around with me for a while," he told me. I nodded my head, not caring too much anymore as to why this was going on. I was just so happy. "So what will it be, Parker? You want to spend the rest of your life with me?"

"Remus, I don't know what to say," I told him squeezing his hand.

"Well, I was kind of hoping you'd say yes," he said nervously.

"Of course, Remus," I said excitedly. "Yes, I would be honored to be your wife." Remus smiled widely and I pulled him to me and kissed him deeply. When Remus and I broke apart, I couldn't stop smiling. Even though I was crying, I was the happiest I had been in a while. Remus took my left hand and delicately slid the ring onto my finger.

Remus wiped the tears from my cheeks and held my face in his hands. "I love you so much," Remus said dreamily. "I loved you when I first saw you, I love you now, and I will love you for the rest of my life. Nothing will ever change how I feel."

"I know you love me and I love you too," I told him.

His head dropped down and I could tell he was struggling with something. "It's just after the whole thing with Professor Wolfe, I want to make sure you know that I will never abandon you like that again," he said, a sad look on his face. "I don't want you to have any doubts about this or about me."

"Remus," I said, pulling him up from his knees, sitting him down on the bench and sitting in his lap, "The best part of me is _you_. I have no doubt in my mind that we are supposed to be together. And if there was one person that I would want by my side for the rest of my life to build a family with, it would be you and only you." I gave Remus a smile and ran my fingers through his hair. He took my hands and pulled me closer to him placing a gentle unrushed kiss on my lips.

I rested my head on his shoulder and allowed his arms to surround me, hugging me closer to his body. My body fit perfectly with his as if we were made for each other. This was a day that I had dreamed about as a little girl, and I honestly don't think I could have envisioned a night as perfect as this. I never thought I would be sixteen, engaged, with a baby on the way, but right now, I wouldn't have it any other way. Remus and I were starting a life together and I was thrilled. Through all of my excitement I couldn't help but think about Alexa. She would absolutely kill me if she wasn't the first to know that Remus and I were engaged.

Not particularly wanting to break the moment, I looked up at Remus. "Do you want to go find Alexa?" he asked, all knowingly. He positively knew me all too well; one of the many things that I loved about him. I nodded my head. He kissed my temple and lifted me off his lap.

The whole way back to the castle, I walked with a smile on my face. I found myself looking down at the new edition to my left hand. It was absolutely stunning and I couldn't have picked out something more perfect. I made a mental note to thank Remus's mother when I finally got to meet her.

As we neared the common room, I could feel the excitement building. I tried to imagine what all our friends would think and say when we told them. Alexa would freak out at first and then try to be a hard ass with Remus, lecturing him about taking care of me. Blair would immediately start planning the wedding no doubt. She'd probably have in all done within an hour. Peter would be excited but would remain reserved as always. Sirius and James would no doubt make some comment about the wedding night, which is somewhat obsolete considering we already took care of that.

"Orion," Remus said as we came to the Fat Lady. We had even made a special password for Sirius's party, which I had forgotten was even going on until now.

Remus helped me through the portrait hole and I could hear that the party was still going on and very much in full swing. As if she knew we were coming to find her, Alexa was coming toward us, moving rather hastily. I looked a bit closer and she did not look happy at all. "Alex," I said as she came up to us. I grabbed her arm but she just pulled free of my grasp and pushed by. Oh, this wasn't good. I gave Remus a look and he gave me an understanding nod. I gave him a peck on the cheek and then quickly took off after Alexa.

I rushed back into the corridor and saw Alexa practically running away from the common room. I was completely lost as to what was going on, but if I knew my sister, it was something big and most likely had to do with Sirius. This looked like it was turning into a not so happy birthday; isn't that just the worst?

* * *

_Alexa's Point of View_

"The drink seems to have been a hit as well," My attention focused once again while Lyla spoke in a loud voice over the crowd that had gathered in the Gryffindor commons. Standing flatfooted, I turned to my sister who was smiling at me. "That was truly a brilliant idea, Alex." Pulling out another one of my many fake smiles, I returned my sisters enthusiasm.

"Yeah, it's smooth going down, could potentially numb your insides if you consume enough and it has the promise to get you drunk as hell. Sirius in a nutshell," I said quickly, trying to sound as much like my normal self as I possibly could. My words had the desired affect as Blair turned cherry red and Lyla shrunk back from around me. The slight laugh I let out at their reactions was legitimate.

"I really do not need to know any of this," Lyla said to me in slight disgust but a lot of amusement. "Oh, I'm scarred for life, thank you." I couldn't help but send her a wink as she pretended to wipe her arms off as if what I'd said had actually dirtied her. "Just remember what happens when you get too friendly." She said pointing down to her stomach. My eyes followed her example to the waistline of her empire dress. While there was absolutely no bump on her stomach at all, she was worrying so much about people knowing.

Rolling my eyes, I tried not to think about the fact that I may never be getting on even the tamest of friendly terms with Sirius again. "Yeah, yeah, I'm not really too concerned about us getting too friendly right now." I said with a sigh, but it was drowned out as Remus and Peter came running out of the portrait hole almost whacking Blair in the face with the frame.

"Okay James is on his way up here with Sirius," Remus informed us in a breathless voice. Obviously running around like a werewolf once a month didn't give you enough stamina to hide something major from a friend without nerves getting to you. "We need to somehow tell everyone so they're prepared to surprise him."

Nodding my head, I decided to step up and let people know what was going on. Sirius may no longer be my boyfriend but he was still someone I cared for and I didn't want his birthday ruined. Pulling out a chair from the table next to us, I stood up and cupped my hands around my mouth before calling everyone's attention. "Everyone shut it!" I yelled loudly. The loud chatter eventually died out as everyone turned towards me. I could feel my palms start to get clammy but I continued loudly ignoring everyone else. "Sirius is almost here, so when he does arrive, I want every single person to yell 'Happy Birthday!' at the top of their lungs. Great, thanks for your attention." I muttered as everyone watched me and nodded or spoke the compliance.

With help from Remus, I stepped down from my perch and smiled at my friends. "Well, that will do it." He said while wrapping his arms around my sister's waist. They looked happy together and I felt a little pain in my chest because I couldn't do that anymore. Not, of course, with Remus, but the feeling was still there. Almost seconds later, we heard the portrait hole open and immediately we started to shush the common room. We heard Sirius before he came into view.

"Prongs, mate, why are you covering my eyes?" Sirius questioned James from the darkness. I smiled because it was just like James to actually go to the effort of covering Sirius's eyes.

"Well, you see, I heard that the seventh year girls were protesting having to wear clothes, so if there are any of them in the common room I wouldn't want you looking at naked women who aren't your girlfriend. My eyes are closed as well, don't worry," James rattled off his tale like he knew all. Please, if there were girls running around without clothes Sirius would already know. "I know Blair would be furious if I saw any other woman's body beside hers." I knew Blair would be furious just because James had said that. Checking behind me, I saw that many people were trying to contain their laughter.

"That is completely insane," Sirius said with slight humor in his voice. Whether it was at James's antics or the fact that Blair would be furious I was unsure. "How could I have not heard of this sooner? I am going to have a talk with some people about this." There it was. They came into view and I continued to watch them without changing my expression because I knew Lyla would be scrutinizing me by now. And because I already knew that he was going to say this. Being around this boy constantly made me privy to his actual doings.

They stopped in front of us and I held my breath as Sirius questioned why they had stopped. After checking with Lyla, James removed his hands from his best friend's eyes and we all yelled happy birthday at the top of our lungs. I was proud of everyone in the room, even the people that weren't in our house, and I smiled widely while Sirius looked around in an astonished way.

Then with a huge smile, Sirius gathered Remus and Lyla in a hug while thanking them. "You guys! Thank you so much!" He then gathered up James, Blair, and Peter. My heart steeled itself up as he turned towards me and then as if I wasn't even there, he walked past me and went to talk to someone behind me. Standing still, I didn't blink as everything around me turned blurry. "Alex," Lyla said from beside me, placing a hand on my arm and I shook it off before looking at all my waiting friends.

"I'm fine," I said unconvincingly. "Everything's fine." I repeated again when they looked unconvinced. Then before they could swarm me and Blair could coerce me into going back upstairs, I muttered an excuse me and walked into the crowd. I nodded to a couple of people I knew while a few of them waved to me and made my way around the Common Room a couple of times to calm down. It was Sirius's party and I wasn't going to ruin it by being a bitchy little girl.

I don't know how long I walked around, but by the time I made it back to where James and Blair were, Lyla and Remus had already called it a night. I couldn't blame my sister for being tired and ultimately wanting to leave but I definitely envied her for being able to leave. If I didn't want to just show everyone that I wasn't going to kill myself over this I would have left as well.

Noticing that I was the only one in the room without a drink, James escorted me over to the table in the corner that was designated for drinks. There was a boy, who couldn't have been more than thirteen or fourteen, running the tiki like bar and he smiled widely at James as we approached. "What can I get you, Mister Potter?"

James gave me a nervous smile at the fact that he had been caught training the next generation of Marauders, but I rolled my eyes and just ordered whatever the kid could make. It turned out that for Sirius's birthday only the specialty drink was being served. Taking my glass, I let James go back to Blair and I leaned up against the bar partly in the shadows as I watched everyone.

"So what's your name, kid?" I asked the little boy. He looked startled for a moment and then back at me and I sent him an encouraging smile. I couldn't believe that I'd had to resort to talking to this little kid at a raging party. Not really hearing him as he spoke his name, I nodded politely and then decided that it was time for me to just call it a night and get out of here. Before I could excuse myself, two girls sporting Ravenclaw headbands sauntered up to the bar.

Whether or not they saw me was completely debatable, because almost as soon as they had gotten their drinks they started to gossip with each other as if I wasn't even there. And not about normal teenage things like who was hooking up at parties or what was going on in class. Nope, they started in on the exact thing I didn't want to hear. "So, Sirius Black broke up with his girlfriend." The blonde stated while tucking her hair behind her ear and waving at someone in the distance.

The redhead at her side sighed in what was probably lust and then took a sip of her drink. "I know! Like, I heard that she cheated on him. With James Potter." The buildup to her little statement was enough to make me want to laugh, but they both looked completely serious. And that's when I knew that people thought that I actually did cheat on Sirius. All of the mean looks and the hateful things that had been said to me by his fan club all made sense now.

"Not only with James but with Remus too; at least that's what I heard." The blonde said while conspicuously looking to where I had been standing. "That's just so low, if you ask me. I mean, when you have one of the hottest guys in school, why do you need to get with his best friends?"

"Girls like that want and want until they've broken up everything for the guy. Obviously she didn't really love him as much as they said they loved each other. She's broken up one of the greatest trios in history." The redhead said in return. Not being able to stand all this bullshit any longer, I walked over to stand in front of them. Neither looked too upset that I was there which just furthered my anger. These people didn't know me. They didn't know what had actually happened between Sirius and I; and I was so tired of always being the bad guy in these situations.

"Hello." I said before completely losing my cool and freaking out. Well, at least I stayed calm for part of it. "Yes, first of all, no one asked you so don't act like you know the whole situation." I looked directly at the blonde, who for her part didn't shrink back too much. Then, turning to the redhead I addressed her as well. "Second of all, I loved and still love Sirius more than you two could even understand. See that's what happens when you're in a committed relationship.

"I didn't cheat on Sirius with his two best friends. If you couldn't tell by earlier they're still the greatest friends in the World. Why else would they have thrown this party for him? Also, even with us being broken up you're never going to be with Sirius. He wants someone with depth; not someone who will worship the ground he walks on because they think he's a god. And if you think that's what he wants then go ahead and try it. You won't get far."

Finished with my monologue, I waited to see what these idiot girls had to say. Looking back and forth at each other and then at the small crowd we had gathered with my shouting, the blonde fixed her features into one of shock. "We were only saying what everyone else had told us."

"How could you be so heartless?" The redhead asked and I almost screamed at her.

"Don't play the victim! You two are just stupid, little bints," I couldn't finish my sentence because by the time the word had left my lips there was something cold and wet dripping down over my face, in my eyes, and darkening my lavender dress. There was a gasp, which thankfully didn't come from me, and then Blair was in front of me.

"You. Out. Now!" Blair told the girls in a deathly quiet voice that was one of the most deadly I had ever heard. Looking at Blair with more fright than they had looked at me, they hustled their asses out of the Common Room. The Blair turned to me; her face softening as her expression changed to one of sympathy. "Oh, Alexa, listen we can go if you want." I could tell that she really didn't want to leave as the crowd dispersed and I realized she and James had been enjoying a dance together.

Blinking back the tears that I knew were coming just because it had been such a shitty week and this had topped it off, I tried my best to smile and look like everything was okay. "Blair, don't worry about me. Go have fun and I'm just going to go up to the dorms and change. I really don't want this punch to stain my dress."

"At least they were both purple?" She said trying to joke and I let out a small laugh at her attempt. "Okay, well if you're sure."

"I'm totally fine. See, it's just a bit of spilt milk; figuratively of course." I said while looking down at my now ruined dress. She gave me a slight hug before going back out to find James who was probably being assaulted by people who pretty much praised him. Dropping the act, I sighed and walked through the pulsing crowd on my way up to the Girl's dorm. I kept my eyes peeled just in case Sirius was around but I didn't see him anywhere.

"Excuse me," I muttered as I tried to pass a very _heated_ couple on the stairs. They broke apart and my heart stuttered for a moment at the sight of the dark eyes of the boy before I realized it wasn't Sirius. Nodding at the couple, I pushed pass them and hustled my way up to the dorms. Bursting into the room, I started to pull the dress over my head before the tears could start. Grabbing a pair of jeans and a sweater out of my dresser, I threw the dress into the laundry pile near Lyla's bed before walking into the shower.

Stepping into the shower stall and turning on the spray, I let a few tears out before I could catch myself. Deciding that it wasn't worth the pain that these girls were causing me, I finished my shower quickly washing all remnants of the purple concoction off of me. After turning off the shower and drying off with a towel, I changed quickly before stepping out of the bathroom.

The dorm was still completely empty so I grabbed my wand while muttering a drying charm and throwing my hair up into a ponytail. Stashing my wand in my pocket and grabbing the two-way mirror from my bedside just in case, I rolled my sleeves up to my elbow and slipped my feet into a pair of flip-flops. I took one last deep breath before leaving the room to find Remus and Lyla and was assaulted by the sound of loud thumping music as soon as the door opened.

The couple on the stairs was gone by the time I got down the flight but the party was now in full swing. There were teenage bodies flinging about on the dance floor, people were playing quarters over in the corner, numerous couples were snogging in random intervals throughout the party. Rolling my eyes, I pushed through the clutter of claustrophobia, the only difference this time being that I wasn't wearing wet clothes and trying not to cry my eyes out. Once I finally made it to the stairs on the opposite side of the hallway area, which was a feat in itself believe me, I bounded up the stairs to the sixth year boy's dorms.

Not bothering to knock, seeing as my sister was already knocked up and she and Remus were probably keeping their hands to themselves anyways, I twisted the door open and pushed into the room. My jaw dropped almost immediately and my greeting died in my throat, as I stood motionless. It was like watching a car crash; I wanted to look away but for some reason I couldn't do so.

Standing in the middle of the room, in the middle of all the mess were Sirius and Laura wrapped in an embrace of epic proportions. They were still going at it and I'm not sure how long I watched before a sound was made somewhere in the room. As they broke apart quickly, still holding onto each other, I realized that the sound had come from me. Turning his eyes towards the door, Sirius and I looked at each other while my hand fell from the door handle and I closed my mouth.

Not knowing what to say, I stood there like an idiot while Laura and Sirius stepped away from each other. I wanted so badly to say something, anything, to let him know how I felt but I wasn't exactly sure what I was feeling. My first instinct was to go running from the room crying because it was truly the only thing I wanted to do in that moment, but there was a part underneath the screaming hurt inside of me. And that part wanted to rip both of the people in front of me to shreds.

No one spoke until suddenly Sirius reached towards me and said my name. That was all it took for me to snap. My hands went around myself in defense and I felt my whole body heating up for an argument. "This isn't what it looks like," Sirius said quickly seeing that I was about to attack someone. The earnest tone he was using caught me off guard for a moment but I regained my composure quickly when I saw Laura looking at Sirius in shock.

"No, you know what Sirius, this is exactly what it looks like. It's what I knew all along was going to happen too and you've just proved me right once again. You're a selfish boy who wants what he can't have until he does have it and then he just throws it away again. You wanted me, then threw me away; and now you're doing the exact same thing to Laura." I began to advance towards him, part of me wanting to beat on him until he was a bloody pulp and the other part wanting to run into his arms and forgive everything he'd ever done.

"Wait just a second; that's not fair and you know it. We broke up. You're the one that broke up with me and Laura and I are just friends. You know that it's you I would rather be kissing. You know that it's you that I want to be with and yet you're standing there yelling at me for something you did." Sirius retaliated. Completely forgetting that Laura was in the room, I stepped close enough to be almost face to face with Sirius and then I shoved him as hard as I could. It didn't really affect him but he looked at me like I was crazy none-the-less.

"Maybe it was me that broke things off but that was only because I knew in the long run you were going to cheat on me or get bored. And you did; you proved me right by getting with her probably not seconds after we broke up. If you wanted me so badly then why didn't you come after me?" I stopped as my breath suddenly hitched in my throat. "Why didn't you fight for me? You've just ignored me for the past few days and haven't spoken to me. If you want to be with me so badly you have a funny way of showing it. I've never said that I wanted to be with someone and then run off to sneak around with someone else."

"Oh, I love you and you know it. This is just you being a jealous little bitch again. You never trusted me fully and you've just waited for me to screw up. Don't deny it either," Sirius said while I pulled a face getting more and more angry as he talked. "So since I don't need you to trust me anymore I'd like to do whatever, and whomever, I want."

Even though it was an extremely girly and clichéd thing to do, I gasped and put my hand over my mouth. "I gave you every part of me, Sirius, and I wasn't just waiting for us to screw up. You might not believe me but you were my everything." He rolled his eyes and I felt tears prick at my own before I backed up. Laura stood watching to the side and when I saw her I choked on air again. I would not cry in front of them. "Well, I'm going to go find Remus and Lyla."

"That's right, please just run away like you always do; run off to my best friend once again." The smug look was too much to take and as my heart broke all over again, I didn't realize that I was stepping towards Sirius quickly until there was a loud crack and my hand suddenly stung with the force.

Stepping to where he stood with an ugly red handprint on his face, I spoke quietly trying to control my voice. "That's for calling me a bitch." Before I could think of the repercussions, I slapped him hard across his other cheek. This time he grabbed his face while I tried not to wince at the pain in my palm. "That's for implying that I would cheat on you with your best friend. I don't cheat; that would be you. And I'm sorry that they were always there for me when you weren't."

"Get out." Sirius said in an almost deathly quiet voice. He pointed towards the door and I smiled venomously while turning around. "We're not finished, Alexa, I was talking to Laura." Both Laura and I looked at each other and she nodded quickly before walking towards the door.

"Wait just a second, Laura, I'm leaving and you need to hear this." She stopped and looked at me slightly afraid while Sirius stood with his arms crossed over his chest. "Trust me when I say that you will regret everything you do with him. He ruins people; he'll take your heart with his slick charm and his playful banter but in the end he's going to destroy you just like he does everyone else." Looking right at Sirius, I let my façade up and shook my head. "He's just like the rest of his family although he refuses to believe it."

"Alexa, I," Laura started but I shook my head at her. Sirius still stood motionless but I could tell what I had said had reached him. Almost immediately the guilt started to pool in my stomach but I refused to let it change this conversation.

Walking away, I paused at the door while looking quickly over my shoulder. Laura stood in shock next to what looked to be James's trunk while holding her arms around herself like I had been doing earlier. Sirius was looking at me with such an emotional expression that I had to look away. "Happy fucking birthday." I said before opening the door and quickly walking out. Hustling down the stairs, I reached the writhing bodies that were overtaking the Common Room. I was about halfway through the room and almost out of the party before I heard my name called.

Sirius was coming down the stairs and looking right at me. Too much stress and too many emotions overtook me in that moment and I burst into tears very embarrassingly. The next think I knew, someone was holding onto my arm. Looking up, I saw the baby blue eyes of my sister and barely registered her saying my name before I fled. And when I say fled I mean it; I took off running out the portrait hole door and into the corridor.

In a blind race, I made my way through the winding hallways of Hogwarts. Eventually I couldn't hear Lyla calling my name anymore and I slowed down, sobbing and gasping for air. It registered that I was either extremely out of shape or I had popped a lung. When I slowed to a halt, I gulped down a breath of air, which just hurt as I hiccupped at the same time. Standing with my forehead against the corridor wall, I turned around so my back was against the wall and then slid down to bury my face against my jean-clad legs.

When my sobs died down enough to where I could actually gather in a breath, I heard footsteps coming towards me. I wiped my eyes hastily on my grey sweater and didn't bother to look up. "Listen, Lyla, I'd really rather just be alone right now. I can't deal with logic in my state." There was a slight chuckle; one that clearly belonged to someone other than Lyla and then the person was sitting next to me.

Taking a deep breath, i noticed that the air around me smelled like spicy cologne and alcohol. Looking up finally to see who had decided to bother me, my eyes widened in shock when I saw Caradoc next to me. "It's a good thing that I'm not Lyla then, I guess, and I was never really one for logic." He smiled at me and then frowned, leaning over to brush a stray tear from my cheek. "What's happened, Alexa?"

"I just, it's not that," I stopped and tried to gather what I was going to say. Thinking about it made the tears spring to my eyes again and my throat constricted with the urge to cry. "Sirius and I are done." This time I did start crying when I realized the truth in the statement I had just spoken. I tried not to cry but the tears kept coming and instead of saying anything or gloating, Caradoc let me cry while he put a comforting hand on my back.

We sat like that until my tears subsided and I realized that I was glad he wasn't pestering me about anything. Looking up, I gave him a small smile while wishing his curly blonde locks and almost aqua eyes were actually shaggy ebony strands and silvery grey eyes. "Whoever she is, I'm sure that he doesn't mean anything by it. He'll realize in the morning that he's just lost the best thing that ever happened to him."

"Oh, Caradoc, this time I don't think that's going to happen." I said sadly while leaning back and putting my head against the wall while staring up at the ceiling. Caradoc sighed and didn't say anything which helped a lot as I felt the need to just talk with no interruption. "I loved him, you know? At first I thought I was just crushing on him and that he was just one of those guys that was a mystery I wanted to crack. And then I realized that the mystery wasn't anything big.

But I also realized that he was a really genuine guy. He made me feel special, and I always felt like I was the only girl to ever walk the planet with him. Then Laura came along and suddenly there were all these trust issues and we didn't talk as much. We had sex and we snogged but it wasn't emotional anymore. Maybe we grew apart, but whatever it is, now we're not even together at all."

As clichéd at is sounds, I could feel just two little tear drops leak from the corner of my eyes and I didn't bother to wipe them off as the dripped down my cheeks. If my life was ending, in a romantic way of speaking, then I was going to go out with a bang. "Alexa, I don't know who this Laura girl is, but if you and Sirius are truly meant to be then you have to fight for him."

"I can't try anymore. I've given him everything I can think to give and nothing works. He doesn't want me anymore. And maybe I'm not worth it to him." That last part slipped out and as one of my deepest doubts was unveiled I waited for a response. Lifting my head up, I looked over at Caradoc who was looking thoughtful before turning towards me.

"You're worth it, Alexa, and if he can't see that then he's more of an idiot than I thought." My heart ached a little bit, as the words that were so close to what Sirius said to me about Caradoc once upon a time came back in a twisted way the other way around. We looked at each other for a moment, and then suddenly we were leaning towards each other. Our lips met and instead of the heated passion and butterflies I usually felt, the empty gnawing at the pit of my stomach just worsened.

Pressing my lips harder against his, I tried to trick myself into thinking this was okay. It didn't work, however, and as I pulled back, I bit my lip and stood up quickly. "I'm sorry. This is just," I couldn't finish my sentence and looked around quickly; then I took off back the way I had come. Not knowing what I was going to do or where I was going, I dug around in my pocket for Sirius's two-way mirror I had not put back yet.

"James Potter." I said shakily. Quickly, James's face came into view, the empty common room behind him as I heard the voices of my friends in the background. I opened my mouth to talk but James was already speaking. "We're on our way, Alexa, just stay put." I nodded and sat down, closing my eyes and willing myself not to break down again. Of all the bad times in my life, this was definitely the worst.

And I had four ears in Transfiguration one time.

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BabyBlue's Author's Note: Sooooo? What did everyone think? We'd all love to know your opinion on this jam-packed, crazy, slightly overweight chapter! Just let me know what you thought, what needs to be fixed, what we could have done differently, etc. and I'll promise to get back to you! The next chapter is finished as well so I'll be putting that one up in a couple of days! Love to all of you that reviewed last chapter and we'd love for you to do it again. See you all soon. And I'll go ahead and apologize in advance if the chapter after 35 begins to take long amounts of time. We just started college so we're getting into the swing of things and trying to realize our own lives. But we are definitely trying to be punctual, it's just you all know how we are. And going to separate colleges does not help at all.

Have a great day! And don't forget to review!


	35. Falling to Pieces

Disclaimer: Sadly, we don't own anything. Except of course for the characters that you don't recognize and the things that are new to you. Also, the title of this chapter goes to the lovely band The Script. Check them out!

Prongslittleflower's Author's Note: Well! I told you that this chapter would be up sooner rather than later. I'm hoping that you all are enjoying the differing points of view that we are throwing at you. And if not, well, next chapters should get everything right back on track. Thanks for the lovely reviews that you guys threw our way on the last few chapter! You're awesome and without you we probably wouldn't write. Well, enough of this, enjoy this chapter and send us some feedback. We'll update as soon as we can. Thanks!

P.S. Who is Laura? This was brought up in some past reviews. This will be uncovered in the upcoming chapters, promise, but whoever finds it out will get a super awesome chapter dedicated to them and if they want I'll even write them a oneshot of their choosing! Have fun, darlings!

And P.P.S. The guy sitting next to me in class as I write this is playing football on his laptop. Welcome to college. :)

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_Falling To Pieces_

_Laura's Point of View_

"Yeah, yeah, I'm not really too concerned about us getting too friendly right now," I heard Alexa say with a sigh. I was far enough away from her, Lyla and Blair for them not too notice me, not that they would with the enormous amount of people who had showed up to wish Sirius a happy birthday, but I made sure I was close enough to hear their conversation. I nodded to the Ravenclaw girl in front of me who was rattling on about who knows what, Lord knows I wasn't listening. As she rambled on, I began to analyze things in my head.

So, Alexa and Sirius were on the outs. Not too surprising after that little blowup in the library. I've played my part rather well, if I do say so myself. Everything was working perfectly. Alexa was now portrayed as the crazy, psycho, bitch of a girlfriend and I was the innocent new girl being maliciously attacked for no good reason. It really almost made me laugh as I thought about it. I thought is was going to be much more of a challenge to get Sirius to turn on Alexa because they appeared to be so madly in love, but Alexa really made my job easy.

Bottom line: Alexa wasn't good enough or right for Sirius, and I was going to make sure they both got what they deserved; for Sirius, a girl who truly loves him and for Alexa, pain and heartbreak. Like I said, every thing was perfect. When Alexa stormed out the day that I found the two of them in the classroom when Sirius and I had made plans, I could tell that Sirius was at the breaking point; he was done. And tonight was going to be the cherry on top. I marveled at my genius and then the room got silent as Alexa yelled out instructions for when Sirius got here. She's acting like we don't know how a surprise birthday party works. What a cow.

The room got deathly quiet and every single person turned toward the portrait hole, waiting anxiously for the birthday boy to arrive. Then, we all heard the voice of James Potter followed by the velvet tone of Sirius. I pushed some people aside to get closer to the front, making sure to keep my distance from Alexa. James led Sirius into the common room with his hands over his eyes telling him some ridiculous story about naked girls that Sirius naturally just believed. James removed his hands from Sirius's eyes and the common room broke out in an uproar.

Sirius's face lit up with joy and excitement and I could tell he was genuinely surprised. He brought Lyla and Remus into and embrace and then turned in the direction I was standing and moved through the crowd. I looked over at Alexa and she looked down trodden and hurt… pity. I made my way through all the well-wishers and finally got to where Sirius was. I stopped in front of him and gave him a huge smile, which he promptly returned. I quickly pulled him into a hug before anybody could steal him away from me. "Happy birthday, Sirius," I whispered in his ear. Sirius hugged me tighter.

"Thank you, and I'm so glad you're here," he said looking around the room.

"Yeah, well," I said hesitating a bit and pushing my bangs out of my eyes. "Blair invited me, but I wasn't sure if I should actually come." I looked over at Alexa and Sirius followed my gaze.

He let out a sigh and shook his head. "Don't worry about her," he reassured me. "Not to sound narcissistic," he said with a smile, "But this is kind of all about me, and I want you to be here." I flashed a shy smile and he laughed a bit.

"Well, listen," I told him, "You go socialize with all the rest of the people who came to see you and I'll find you later to give you your present." I had to show him that I wasn't as controlling as Alexa was. Show him that I didn't care whom he hung out with.

"You're too great," he said giving me a hug again. "Find me later." He gave me a smile and then disappeared into the mass of bystanders. Now that I had some time to kill before I met up with Sirius again, I needed to find something to do that wouldn't completely bore me. As a general rule, I try not to associate with most of the people at this party, but for tonight, I figured I could have a little fun with them. At that moment, I spotted two Ravenclaw girls standing over by one of the back walls. These two girls, I knew for a fact, were incredibly annoying but they had two of the biggest mouths in Ravenclaw; and they would have to do.

I walked over to the two girls who were scanning the crowd of people with intense scrutiny. As I came close they put their judging on hold and smiled at me. "Oh, hey Laura," the blonde, Jennifer, said to me with a smile as fake as her obviously worked on nose of hers.

"Hey Jen," I responded, then I nodded to the brunette at her side, "Mariah." She responded to my greeting with a smile. "So are you two ladies enjoying the party?" I asked making small talk before I got to why I really came over here.

"Yeah, it's great," Mariah, said, answering my question. "I can't believe some of the people that showed up. Some of them just don't belong here." Like you. I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes. All right, it was time to shake things up.

"Speaking of, I can't believe Alexa actually showed up," I said, trying to sound as scandalous as possible in order to draw them in.

Mariah and Jennifer leaned closer and closed in on me like a vulture on a dead carcass. This was all too easy. "Why wouldn't Alexa be here?" Jennifer asked. Her tone was a mix between wanting to desperately know what information I had and shame in not already knowing what I was about to share.

"Oh, you guys didn't hear?" I asked sounding shocked. They shook their heads, hungry for gossip. Of course they didn't know about it. No one knew about it, seeing as I just made it up. Man, I love how my mind works. "Well, apparently Sirius and Alexa broke up; and that's not nearly as egregious as the reason as to why they broke up."

Jennifer and Mariah looked at each other like kids who had just woken up on Christmas morning to find a mound of presents stacked up to the ceiling; a vaulted ceiling at that. "Continue," Mariah said, practically begging me to give her more details. I had already started floating this rumor around, but I had only confided in a few people who would be boisterous about it but would back up the story once it fully leaked. Mariah and Jen were just the last pieces of this particular puzzle.

I looked around to make sure no one else was listening; I definitely wasn't going to let this rumor get traced back to me. "I heard that she cheated on Sirius," I almost whispered. Jennifer and Mariah both drew in a quick breath of shock. "With James and Remus," I added, ultimately for effect and optimal sluttiness for Alexa.

Their eyes widened in disbelief. "Oh, my goodness," Jennifer said covering her mouth. "That's just low," she said in disgust. "Not only did she cheat on Sirius, but she cheated on him with his best friends and her friend and sister's boyfriends. She is just a new level of trash."

"I know, I couldn't believe it when I heard it," I said sounding as concerned as I could. "But, hey, don't tell anyone okay? And if anybody asks, I didn't tell you."

Jennifer and Mariah gave me a devious smile. "Don't worry, we won't say a word," Mariah assured me. I nodded my head and then walked away. And, now, my job was complete.

After giving it a good ten minutes to circulate, I started to listen to see if the rumor had been taken up. And to no surprise it had. I found Jen standing over by the bar with a redheaded girl, so I went over close to where they were to listen.

"So, Sirius Black broke up with his girlfriend," Jennifer said to the redhead. She gathered a stray golden lock in her fingers and secured it behind her ear.

"I know! Like I heard that she cheated on him. With James Potter," Jennifer's redhead friend said jumping in enthusiastically. I smiled to myself in satisfaction and then turned from the two gossiping girls to go find Sirius.

After circulating through the mass of people, I finally was able to locate Sirius. He was talking to Lyla, so I just decided to stay out of the way until they were done. I didn't think Lyla would take to kindly to me being there. Lyla was one of Sirius's best friends and I didn't want to risk upsetting either one right now. I watched as the two friends embraced and then followed Sirius and they parted ways.

I snuck up behind him and placed my hands over his eyes, I could feel his cheek bones slowly move up as he smiled. "Guess who," I whispered in his ear. A slow laugh rippled through his body and I could feel that hair stand up on the back of my neck.

"Let's see..." he started trailing off in thought. "You smell like jasmine, you have some of the softest hands in the world, and your voice is like a bird's song." I smiled at this flattery. "James, mate, what's up?" He started to laugh and I released my hands in fake anger. He turned to look at me with a smile but I just crossed my arms and cocked my hip. "Oh, come on, you know I'm just joking." He poked me in the stomach, drawing a small smile to my face.

"You're hilarious," I told him sarcastically. "I came to find you to give you your present, but I don't really think you deserve it anymore." Sirius eyes widened and shook his head furiously.

"No, don't do that to me!" he pleaded. "It's my birthday and I'm sorry." He gave me a guilty smile and I just rolled my eyes. "Yes, so what'd you get me?"

"Come with me," I told him. I grabbed his hand and pulled him along with me. I quickly and quietly led him up to his dormitory. Once we got into the dormitory, I closed the door behind us and turned to Sirius who was standing in the middle of the room looking rather confused.

"Laura, what is all this?" he asked, searching from answers.

"I wanted to give you your present away from all those people down there," I told him, stepping closer to him. "Sirius, you've been really great to me lately, with helping me get acclimated and all that. I've really appreciated it."

"You know I'm happy to do it," Sirius said simply. "You've been a great friend to me and I've appreciated that."

I gave him a smile and closed the distance between us even more. "Happy birthday," I whispered to him. I lifted myself up on my toes and leaned in. I placed my lips gently on his. I kissed him only once and lingered close to him to wait for his reaction.

"Um, Laura, I don't think…" he started, but I stopped him with another kiss.

"Sirius, don't talk. Let me give you your present." I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him to me, my kiss more passionate this time. Sirius hesitated for a few moments, but then I felt his arms snake around my waist and he pulled me even closer to me returning my kiss. My fingers went into his ebony tousled locks and Sirius cradled the small of my back with one hand and my head with the other.

Our lips worked furiously against each other. I could feel the warm touch of his skin on mine as my shirt began to ride up. I forgot how good this felt. My body was flooding with emotions and it was almost too much to handle. I wanted more of Sirius, I wanted more for us, and I wanted Sirius to want me, and I think he was starting to want me.

Sirius broke the contact our lips were maintaining and began to trail my jaw line with kisses. I tilted my head to the side so he could have better access to my neck. I could feel my knees begin to quiver, and just when I thought I was going to collapse, Sirius repositioned himself to support me fully. I let out a gasp as he caught me, but it was quickly silenced as Sirius captured my lips in another heated kiss. I traced his bottom lip with my tongue and his lips parted in response. This was all I needed, to know that Sirius wanted the same thing that I wanted.

A noise suddenly filled the room, but it didn't come from either Sirius or myself. We separated only at the lips and turned toward the apparent source of the sound. My heart both sank and fluttered at the sight that I saw before me. Standing in the doorway, witnessing Sirius and I snog was Alexa. Alexa just stood there motionless, staring at me and her boyfriend, or ex-boyfriend. Her hand dropped from the doorknob. I could see her eyes shifting from me to Sirius, trying to figure this all out.

I looked up at Sirius; his eyes were filled with guilt and remorse. We slowly stepped away from each other and turned toward Alexa. The room was filled with an eerie silence until Sirius finally broke it. He stepped toward Alexa but she quickly shut him down. Alexa wrapped her arms around herself like she always did when she was trying to guard herself, whether physically or emotionally. She had a look in her eyes though, a look not of defense, but of attack. "This isn't what it looks like," Sirius said hastily, obviously picking up on the same look that I had.

My eyes widened in shock as Sirius said this. What did he mean? To me, it looked like I was making out with him, who just happens to be the boyfriend of the girl that just walked in on us. That's what it looks like and that's what it is!

Alexa and Sirius began to bicker back and forth but I couldn't really focus. My heart felt like a knife had just been plunged into it. My emotions were so mixed. I should be happy right now because I got what I wanted, I broke Sirius and Alexa up and brought ultimate heartache to Alexa. But I just couldn't shake the words that Sirius had just said. It wasn't what it looked like. If it wasn't what it looked like, then what was it? He kissed me back! He had to feel something for me; he just had to.

I tried to tune back in to what they were saying, and oh Merlin, did I pick a bad time to start paying attention again. "You're the one that broke up with me and Laura and I are just friends. You know that it's you I would rather be kissing. You know that it's you that I want to be with and yet you're standing there yelling at me for something you did." I suddenly became extremely nauseous.

I'll admit it, the plan from the beginning was to just destroy Alexa by getting her and Sirius to break up, but it was never a part of the plan to fall for Sirius, but I just couldn't help it. And now, I was paying for it. I had managed to not only hurt Alexa, but also hurt myself.

"Get out," I heard Sirius sternly say. I quickly was shaken from my trance and looked up at him. He was pointing toward the door and the intensity in his eyes was more than unsettling. Alexa smiled and turned but was stopped by Sirius's deep voice. "We're not finished Alexa, I was talking to Laura." I looked over to Alexa and then nodded in compliance. Even though I didn't particularly want to, I knew that I should leave.

"Wait just a second, Laura, I'm leaving and you need to hear this." I stopped and turned to Alexa who didn't seem angry anymore, she just looked defeated. "Trust me when I say that you will regret everything you do with him." Believe me, I already was. "He ruins people; he'll take your heart with his slick charm and his playful banter but in the end he's going to destroy you just like he does everyone else. He's just like the rest of his family although he refuses to believe it." I took in a sharp breath as she spoke these last words. Sirius looked severely hurt.

I don't know what possessed me, but I felt like I had to say something. I started to explain myself, but Alexa just shook her head at me, gave Sirius one last look and then left with a "happy fucking birthday" to Sirius. I crossed my arms across my chest and looked down at the floor. Even though what Sirius had said pierced me to my core, there was still a part of me that wanted him, even after everything.

"Sirius," I said quietly. I reached out to touch him but he pulled away fiercely before I could even get close.

"Save it, Laura," he said harshly. He turned toward me and captured my eyes with his steely grey stare. I could feel the tears welling up. "You knew this was going to happen didn't you?" he asked accusingly. I opened my mouth to protest, but I didn't get a chance to. "Was this really your plan all along?"

The tears started to stream down my cheeks. "No, Sirius," I tried to bargain. "I… I…"

"You what?" he asked angrily taking a step toward me. "You love me? Is that it?" I let out a choking sob and quickly covered my mouth to stifle my cry. "Well, listen to me, I don't love you. Even though we have our problems, I love Alexa and I never stopped loving her." My tears blurred Sirius's face. Even through my disfigured sight, he was still beautiful. "Just leave me be, Laura." He gave me one last look and then he left without another word.

As soon as Sirius was gone, I collapsed to the ground and let the tears and sobs ripple through my body with ease. I let everything go, and just cried. I hated to cry, and I had always seen crying as somewhat of a sign of weakness, but right now, I was weak, and I didn't care. I got what I wanted; I broke them up. But if I really got what I wanted, why was I laying on the floor crying my eyes out? Once again, Sirius Black hurt me, and once again, the reason for Sirius hurting me is because of Alexa.

I quickly grabbed the weakness within me, kicked it in the ass, and allowed my vindictive nature to flow back into me. I had nothing to lose, absolutely nothing, and I wasn't going to give up. I would get Alexa back for all the hurt that she has brought upon me and it just wasn't enough to just make her feel the pain of heart break. I was going to bring her to the point to where she wished she were dead.

I went into Sirius's bathroom, splashed some water on my red swollen face, and then gave myself a good hard look in the mirror. After I made myself presentable again, I slowly and cautiously made my way down the stairs. As I neared the bottom I slowed down even more and I heard shouting. Not wanting to make matters worse for myself, I stayed hidden in the stairwell and listened to the commotion in the common room.

"Sirius, mate, what the hell happened?" I heard someone ask. It was Remus.

"Remus, this is none of your damn business," Sirius retorted, completely avoiding the question. I couldn't see what was going on but I could tell it wasn't good.

"Alexa is my sister, Sirius, so that makes it my business," Lyla chimed in. "Now, what happened? Why did my sister run out of here this time?"

"Lyla, give it a rest," Sirius said, there was a bite to his tone. "Stop trying to fix everybody else's problems just because you can't fix your own." Not a minute later, I heard the sound of bone hitting bone. I peeked ever so secretively to see what happened and saw Sirius on the ground, his face red, and Remus clutching his hand with Lyla looking concerned and hurt by his side.

"Don't you dare bring that up, and don't you dare talk to her like that," Remus yelled at Sirius, standing over top of him as Sirius rubbed his face where the punch had hit him. "After everything she's done for you, she deserves a hell of a lot better from you." Sirius didn't respond, he just pulled himself up and listened. "And I don't know what you did to Alexa this time, but you better make it right, Sirius."

Lyla had her hands on Remus's arms holding him back as he stared down his best friend. Sirius looked from Lyla to Remus and then moved past them without a word. "You know he didn't mean it," Lyla said to Remus who still looked rather angry. "You need to apologize to him later, once you've both cooled off."

"Did you hear what he said to you?" Remus asked hastily. "There is no way that I'm apologizing to that prat."

"He's your best friend, Remus," Lyla reminded him. "Do it for me." Remus reluctantly shook his head as Lyla placed a kiss on his cheek and then mended his bloodied hand. That was Lyla for you, always trying to keep the peace. What she and Remus had just absolutely made me sick and that was just another reason why she wasn't one of my favorite people; she had everything that I wanted.

After waiting for a few good moments, I decided that it was safe to leave my place of hiding. Remus and Lyla were still pretty close, but if I just kept to the back wall I think I could get out without drawing too much attention to myself. As I started to move, James and Blair came over to join Remus and Lyla. "Moony, I just saw Alexa storm out followed by Sirius who had a pretty good sized welt on his face, what is the cause of all this?" James asked.

I quickly left the stairwell leading to the boy's dormitory keeping my head down. But just my luck, even more shit hit the fan. "I think I know what caused all this," I heard someone say. I looked up and saw Lyla staring directly at me. I stood up straight after being discovered and looked at the group of four friends before me. Lyla's eyes were narrowed on me and I could feel a guilty smile creep onto my face. "You stupid, little, home wrecker!" Lyla shouted as she lunged toward me.

I went to cover my face in defense and was surprised when no such attack ensued. I uncovered my eyes to see Lyla, now, being the one restrained. Remus had his arms around her and Lyla looked fit for murder. "Lyla, you have to calm down," Remus warned.

"Why? You got to hit someone, why shouldn't I?" she questioned. Lyla usually wasn't the violet type, but the way she was looking at me, I had no doubt in my mind, if given the chance, she would pummel me.

"I think you know why," Remus cautiously whispered. Lyla took a deep breath and I could physically see her body relax. Remus released her from his hold once he thought she was calm enough. "Good, just calm down."

"You're right, sorry," she said shaking her head and brushing her bangs off to the side. She took another deep breath and then looked at me again. "I won't hit you, but I know you had something to do with all this and I want you to tell me now." I looked between the four people standing before me. I couldn't bring myself to speak. "Don't test me, Laura, tell me right now what happened."

I myself took a deep breath and then confessed. "Alexa walked in on Sirius and I kissing," I said simply. No sense, really, in hiding the truth anymore.

They all immediately got concerned looks on their faces. Lyla shook her head at me in disappointment and anger. "You know, you're extremely lucky that I can't fight you right now," Lyla told me. "Count your blessings and get out of my face."

She didn't have to tell me twice. I quickly made my way out of the less crowded common room before anyone else wanted to try and fight me. Once the truth about what happened got around, I was probably going to be one of the most hated people in school. I sadly took comfort in that it wouldn't be the first time.

* * *

_Sirius's Point of View_

"Padfoot!" Before I had time to brace myself at all, there were hands covering my eyes and someone was tugging me backwards. Of course, by the immense smell of cologne and the bony knuckles that were digging into my orbital sockets, I knew it was Prongs. Struggling to push my friend off of me, I spun around to see the be-speckled git grinning toothily at me.

"Hey, Prongs, not that it's too out of the ordinary or anything, but I'm not really into fetishes." I said while motioning between us. Rolling his eyes, James clubbed me on the shoulder and continued with me on my walk to the Common Rooms. "So, what exactly are you doing out here seeing as Blair isn't around and we're not getting ready to pull a prank or anything?" I asked my best mate as we passed a few portraits that wished me a happy birthday. I nodded to them in thanks and then looked at James who was looking pretty shifty.

"Considering you are my best friend and all, I would like to think that I could talk to you whenever I wanted to." He explained with a hurt look on his face. Not believing him for a second, I opened my mouth to rebuttal when his hands covered my eyes again. There was a scuffling noise and then something opened and slammed shut again. "Sorry, Sirius, but this is for your own good."

Briefly a door opened and there was loud noise from somewhere that I could only assume was the Common Room until it died down very rapidly. "Prongs, mate, why are you covering my eyes?" Asking obvious questions was the way you had to be when it came down to James Potter and his freaky fixations. James tensed up for a moment before laughing awkwardly.

"Well, you see, I heard that the seventh year girls were protesting having to wear clothes, so if there are any of them in the common room I wouldn't want you looking at naked women who aren't your girlfriend. My eyes are closed as well, don't worry," Feeling a slight twinge in my chest when he spoke of Alexa still being my girlfriend, I ignored the fact that if his eyes were indeed closed he could quite possibly be steering me straight into a brick wall. What a good friend. James, however, wasn't finished with his tale of lies. "I know Blair would be furious if I saw any other woman's body besides hers."

Imagining the look on Blair's face if she knew that James was spilling secrets that were most definitely her private business, I gave a small laugh. Back to the issue at hand, however, "That is completely insane. How could I not have heard about this sooner? I'm going to have to talk to some people about this." I muttered as we entered the Common Room without any incidents or marring of my facial features. "James, why have we stopped?" I asked as his hands slowly came down from covering my eyes.

Standing in the Common Room was about seventy of my closest friends (really, my closest friends were in front of me, but what's that matter) and they were all screaming some type of 'Happy Birthday' at me. I didn't move for about a half of a second in surprise and then I smiled widely, feeling like my face was going to be split in half. Gathering up Lyla and Remus, who were standing closest to me, I pulled them in for a bone crushing hug; not as bone crushing for Lyls, though, as I remembered her condition.

"You guys!" I said pulling away from them and pulling Prongs, Blair, and Wormtail in for the next hug, "Thank you so much." After releasing them, I turned towards the ashy blonde hair and bright green eyes of Alexa, only to be pulled away before I could assess her. I nodded half-heartedly at whomever it was that was talking to me, not paying attention but looking over to where Alexa had just been standing. She was no longer there and my stomach sank as I looked over the crowd for blonde hair. Just my luck, there were close to twenty girls here with varying shades of the same color.

Before I could do anything, there was a mousy brunette standing in front of me, beaming like her life depended on my happiness: Laura. Smiling back at her, I embraced her hug, trying not to think of the way that her body didn't quite fit with mine or the fact that she was looking entirely too happy for a girl that was in the middle of a couple going through a bad breakup. "Happy birthday, Sirius," She whispered in my ear as I leaned down and hugged her tighter.

She truly was a good friend. And no matter what Alexa thought, she had no intentions of breaking us up. Trying not to think of my ex-girlfriend, "Thank you, and I'm so glad you're here." I said sincerely. Releasing Laura from my grasp, I pushed up the sleeves of my button down and glanced around the room.

"Yeah, well," She hesitated and looking down at her I watched as her shaking hands pushed her bangs from her eyes. They fell back almost immediately and I hid an amused smile. "Blair invited me, but I wasn't sure if I should actually come." Looking over into the distance, she focused her gaze on something and I followed her eyes to see that ever-familiar woman that made my heart jump. But that was not longer acceptable for us.

Sighing, I shook my head and smiled serenely at the fifth year. "Don't worry about her. Not to sound narcissistic, but this is kind of all about me, and I want you to be here." A small, shy smile erupted on her face and I couldn't help but laugh in amusement. She really was a great girl, even if she didn't get along with everyone here.

Putting her hand on my arm, she squeezed it slightly and then began talking. "Well, listen, you go socialize with all the rest of the people who came to see you and I'll find you later to give you your present."

I hugged her quickly before releasing her from my arms. "You're too great. Find me later," I smiled at her and then watched her disappear. She smiled at me and then flounced away towards the bar and I watched her go, her bouncy hairstyle swishing with her gait. I couldn't help my eyes as they traveled a little farther south.

Clearing my throat, I realized there wasn't a drink in my hand and suddenly became very thirsty. It was as if he had been conjured from mid-air as my mini-me, Drew, appeared at my right side. "Mr. Padfoot, sir, Mr. Prongs said that I was to be of assistance to you at any point in the night. What can I do for you?" Smiling at the boy, I laughed slightly and put my finger to my chin in mock thought.

"Well, Drewey, I'd love a drink right now. Anything strong, as long as it's alcoholic." He gave me a curt nod and then disappeared into the crowd again. Grinning so much that I thought my face was going to break off, I turned around to face the crowd as the music started and many of the lights dimmed. Spotting Prongs over by the D.J. system, I made my way over to my best friend.

"Birthday boy! I've really outdone myself this year, have I not?" He yelled over the music, swiveling his hips slightly like a girl. I couldn't help the insane laugh that bubbled up my throat and I barked on accident as my laugh sounded. Rolling his eyes at me, James looked around until he spotted Drew and Michael scurrying towards us. "Ah, here come the grunts. Michael, two shots of firewhiskey for Padfoot and Prongs."

Michael nodded his head, raising his butler's tray to offer the aforementioned drink. Taking the small shot glass in my hand, I raised an eyebrow towards my best friend. He nodded once, tilted the shot back, and downed the liquid with a loud whoop. Doing the same, I felt the burning sensation in my throat before my insides began to warm. With little trepidation, we reached for the other shots and in quick succession repeated our actions.

People around us started to laugh and cheer as we took one more and I was about to open my mouth to suggest that we play a drinking game when Blair swooped in and rescued James from what was sure to be utter humiliation. "Happy birthday, Sirius, but I'd rather not have my boyfriend dancing on table tops again this year. His striptease last year was enough to make that poor fourth year girl cry."

"Are you sure that wasn't just from lust?" James challenged while squeezing Blair's side and causing her to blush deeply. She swatted at his arm but he just kept pinching her and eventually she giggled insanely and brought his face to hers for another one of their grossly adorable snog sessions. Rolling my eyes, I turned around to look out over the crowd, not really seeing anyone that I cared to acknowledge. My mood was rapidly decreasing and I had just spotted what I assumed to be Alexa (blonde hair, lilac dress) when there was a tap on my shoulder.

I was getting ready to tell whoever it was to piss off, when I noticed the baby-blues of Lyla Parker. Hopefully the kid would get her eyes, seeing as Remy's were a little scary being honey-colored and all. "Sirius, can I talk to you for a minute?" She asked and I smiled down at my best girl friend.

"Oh, Lyls, of course," I said while looking around at the crowd that was suddenly surrounding me. Not knowing what else to say, I muttered an 'excuse me' and then stepped off to the side where Lyla and I would be able to talk without lots of noise and distractions. "What's up?" I asked when I saw the sad set of her eyes.

"Well, I just wanted to go ahead and give you your present," She told me with a slight smile before putting her hand on her lower stomach. The very slight bump from her pregnant stomach was masked by the dress she wore, but her tired eyes gave her away. "Parties and I don't really mix well anymore."

Smiling, I put an arm around her and shrugged my shoulders. "Now, you know you didn't have to get me anything, this party is enough," I told her before releasing her. "Thank you for this again, by the way. I know I said I didn't want anything, but I'm glad you guys didn't listen."

"You know we couldn't let you turn seventeen without making a big deal about it. Plus, you know James will use any excuse to have a party," I laughed slightly while nodding my head and looking over to where Prongs was trying to get Moony into line to do some sort of weird conga that Blair was organizing. Rolling my eyes, I turned back to Lyla who was smiling. "Now, this present isn't anything big, but I needed to give you this." Pulling me into a very tight best friend hug she laughed with me as I hugged her back as tightly as I could without crushing her stomach.

"I give you this birthday best friend hug today to thank you for everything. Remus told me that you knew the whole time and I just want to thank you for all your help and keeping it all a secret. It really means a lot. I could never properly thank you for what you've done."

Pulling back, I tilted my head to properly look at the brunette in front of me. "Lyla, this was more than enough, and probably the best present I've ever received. I'm happy for you and Remus; you two belong together and will make wonderful parents. And if you ever need anything, don't hesitate to ask me." I smiled before we embraced quickly and then rethought what I had just said. "Unless it's changing diapers, I don't know if I could handle that quite yet."

We shared another laugh and she reaffirmed that she wouldn't trust me to do so anyways. Nodding towards Remus over the crowd, I waved slightly as Lyla backed up towards him. "Well, I'm going to meet Remus, enjoy the rest of the party. Make sure you thank everyone who came. I know they would all love to hear from you." With those strongly emphasized words, she nodded goodbye and went to join up with Remus in front of the portrait hole. I watched the happy couple join hands and walk together out of the door and I grimaced slightly. Of course, I needed to find Alexa and tell her thank you. It was only right seeing as she was one of my best friends and had helped with this party. Plus, they way Dearborn was looking at her earlier didn't sit well with me.

I started to step forward when a pair of cold, smooth hands covered my eyes. "Guess who," A feminine voice whispered in my ear and I smiled in response. Slowly laughing, I thought for a moment before giving her my answer.

"Let's see," I trailed off like I was really thinking about it. "You smell like jasmine, you have some of the softest hands in the world, and your voice is like a bird's song." I could tell she was smiling as I complimented her without thinking of the implications I could be having. "James, mate, what's up?" I couldn't help but laugh as she dropped her hands and I turned to look at her. She was pouting with her arms crossed and her small hips jutted to the side. "Oh, come on, you know I'm just joking."

Poking Laura in the side jokingly, I watched as a smile made it's way onto her face. Her eyes lit up as she spoke to me. "You're hilarious. I came to find you to give you your present, but I don't really think you deserve it anymore." The sarcasm in her voice was clear but I widened my eyes and properly freaked out anyways.

"No, don't do that to me!" I gave her one of my charming smiles and she rolled her eyes. "It's my birthday and I'm sorry. Yes, so what'd you get me?" I asked once I knew she really wasn't mad. A sultry smile made it's way onto her features and my blood rushed slightly as she took my hand and pulled me along.

"Come with me," She said while leading me through the crowd quickly. Many people looked at our joined hands and then up to me with a smirk that I didn't really understand but before I knew it the door was closing behind me and we were standing in the middle of my dorm room alone. Confused, I looked at my companion with a raised eyebrow. "Laura, what is all this?" I took a quick look around the room hoping that nothing was going to jump out at me. I didn't find anything and nothing jumped out. But there also wasn't any gift that I could see up here either.

Stepping closer to me, Laura caught my eyes coyly. "I wanted to give you your present away from all those people down there. Sirius, you've been really great to me lately, with helping me get acclimated and all that. I've really appreciated it."

Nodding at her, I spoke while she smiled and stepped closer. "You know I'm happy to do it. You've been a great friend to me and I've appreciated that." I tried to put some emphasis on the word friend but the smile on her face and the way she was pressing her body into mine somewhat skewed the meaning I was trying to portray.

"Happy birthday," She whispered and suddenly her lips were placed on my own. It was a short, chaste kiss that only happened once and was over before I realized but she lingered close afterwards. Once I realized my life, I started to talk but she stopped me again. "Um, Laura, I don't think," But her lips were on mine again.

"Sirius, don't talk. Let me give you your present." Without thinking, I let my body react to her innuendo and as her arms wrapped around my neck I let my hands go to her waist and deepened the kiss. The alcohol in my system swarmed my nerves and I let my body take over the ringing warning bells in my mind. If Alexa couldn't trust me and wanted this to be over, then I could do whatever I wanted. It was my birthday, there was a beautiful girl wrapped in my arms, and I had no ties to anything or anyone.

Pushing Laura towards the bedpost of my own bed, I broke the contact of our lips and began to trail my mouth across her jaw and down her neck. Sucking slightly, I felt my manly pride swell as she let out a short gasp and her knees gave out slightly. Holding her up with my arm around her waist, I kissed her on the mouth quickly again. As if she even had to ask, I felt her tongue along my bottom lip and I parted my lips to let her tongue enter my mouth.

My hands began to trail up her sides when suddenly there was a sound that broke the spell Laura's body had put on my mind. Turning my head slightly, I felt the blood drain from my body and all intimacy with Laura was broken. Standing in the doorway to the room, looking as if she had just been put through hell was Alexa. Her small hand dropped from the doorknob and her eyes searched my face for some sort of answer.

Knowing her so well and having seen that look on her face before I knew she was going to run, so I stepped away from Laura and put my hands out towards Alexa before saying her name to get her attention. That seemed to snap her from her daze because her arms went around herself in defense and she stood stock-still. Treading carefully, I spoke quickly before she went off on us. "This isn't what it looks like," I muttered because honestly, I had no idea what had just happened myself.

Laura stiffened besides me and I felt my life going down the shitter with alarming pace. Alexa's face shutdown and no emotion came from her voice as she spoke to me. "No, you know what Sirius, this is exactly what it looks like. It's what I knew all along was going to happen too and you've just proved me right once again." I opened my mouth to defend myself, feeling my blood boil and my heart drop in both anger and heartache. "You're a selfish boy who wants what he can't have until he does have it and then he just throws it away again. You wanted me, then threw me away; and now you're doing the exact same thing to Laura."

As she took a few steps towards me, a war of emotions played out on her face before she stopped advancing towards me and looked at me in confusion. "Wait just a second; that's not fair and you know it." I said defending myself while she tried to understand what she was doing. "We broke up. You're the one that broke up with me and Laura and I are just friends. You know that it's you I would rather be kissing. You know that it's you that I want to be with and yet you're standing there yelling at me for something you did." Realizing what I had just said and that it wasn't going to go as planned, I blocked out Laura's distress and Alexa stepped close enough to me that we were sharing the same air. Just when I thought she was going to wrap her arms around me, she shoved me in the chest as hard as she could.

There wasn't really much damage done as Alexa was about half a foot shorter than me and quite a bit lighter, but nonetheless I couldn't stop the look that crossed my face. "Maybe it was me that broke things off but that was only because I knew in the long run you were going to cheat on me or get bored. And you did; you proved me right by getting with her," Alexa punctuated her tirade by looking pointedly at Laura and bring her back into the picture, "Probably not seconds after we broke up. If you wanted me so badly then why didn't you come after me?"

Her breath hitched and I clenched my hands to stop myself from instinctively reaching towards her. She needed to get this out in the open before I tried to help her and explain my case. Gathering herself, she continued. "Why didn't you fight for me? You've just ignored me for the past few days and haven't spoken to me. If you want to be with me so badly you have a funny way of showing it. I've never said that I wanted to be with someone and then run off to sneak around with someone else."

"Oh, I love you and you know it!" I said not being able to contain my eyes from rolling. My voice was raised slightly as I tried to get her to understand that simple fact. I had said it to her so many times that I wondered if she had ever believed me with as much as she questioned it. Abandoning my 'feel sorry for me' attitude, I replaced it with the emotion I could easily call up: anger. "This is just you being a jealous little bitch again. You never trusted me fully and you've just waited for me to screw up. Don't deny it either. So since I don't need you to trust me anymore I'd like to do whatever, and whomever, I want."

Knowing that what I said had an impact and already regretting my words, I couldn't help the little bit of satisfaction that coursed through me when she gasped and put her hand up over her mouth. I could tell that Laura had been affected in almost the same way as my words hit home with both girls. It was almost over, I could tell by the way that Alexa was letting her emotions get the best of her and I crossed my arms while she took a deep breath.

"I gave you every part of me, Sirius, and I wasn't just waiting for us to screw up. You might not believe me but you were my everything." The way she was speaking made me roll my eyes and then immediately regretted my actions when her eyes filled with tears and she took a quick step backwards. As her eyes caught Laura, who had all but faded into the background, she got choked up before she turned away from us. "Well, I'm going to go find Remus and Lyla."

The hurt feeling in my chest rang harder when she mentioned Remus, who even though he was a werewolf and a teenage father, was everything I would never and could never be. The next words out of my mouth came from someone that wasn't even me. "That's right, please just run away like you always do; run off to my best friend once again."

It was automatically the wrong thing to say because suddenly Alexa was in front of me, her green eyes hard and tear-filled, her ponytail swinging around wildly. There was a loud crack and my face was on fire. "That's for calling me a bitch." She said stepping up to me as I tried not to cringe and grab my face. Without warning my head snapped to the side as she hit me across the other cheek. My reaction was automatic as I grabbed my face in pain. Suddenly teaching her how to punch was a bad, bad idea.

"That's for implying that I would cheat on you with your best friend. I don't cheat; that would be you. And I'm sorry that they were always there for me when you weren't." She turned to leave before I said anything and suddenly I was pissed. She wasn't going to be the one who got to leave this time.

"Get out." I spoke quickly and quietly, watching as she smiled sourly before turning to go. Pointing towards the door, I looked at Laura while speaking to Alexa. "We're not finished, Alexa. I was talking to Laura." The pureblood in me began to break through as I started commanding the people around me as my anger took over.

As Laura was leaving, Alexa spoke up. "Wait just a second, Laura, I'm leaving and you need to hear this." Laura listened to Alexa and stopped while I stood as tall as I could, a black cloud probably framing my figure with all the negative energy I was putting off. "Trust me when I say that you will regret everything you do with him." She started, talking to Laura but looking me in the eyes. "He ruins people; he'll take your heart with his slick charm and his playful banter but in the end he's going to destroy you just like he does everyone else. He's just like the rest of his family although he refuses to believe it."

I stood motionless, not being able to say anything, not able to defend myself as what she said rang true within me. The little voice inside my head told me she was right. I ruined her and here I was not apologizing but provoking her more. Laura said something that I didn't catch or care to even here before Alexa started walking away. I watched her blankly before she turned one last time to me. "Happy fucking birthday," She said quietly as she walked out of my room and out of my life.

My mind started to shut down before there was a small hand reaching towards my arm to comfort me. Wrenching away from the contact, I turned on Laura, my anger bubbling over as I looked at her innocent façade. "Save it, Laura," I spoke while capturing her eyes as they welled with tears. "You knew this was going to happen didn't you? Was this really your plan all along?" The reality of this hit me hard as I realized finally that Alexa was right. I had lost the only girl I had ever loved because I had been tricked by another girl. Beaten at my own game.

"No, Sirius," She spoke while looking at me, tears flowing from her eyes as she tried to reason with me. Her face scrunched up made me realize that she wasn't the beautiful Hufflepuff girl that I thought she was. What she really should have been was a Slytherin snake with her conniving and scheming.

"You what? You love me? Is that it?" I asked her while stepping towards her. Realizing that she was frightened, I lowered my voice and tried to visibly calm myself down. I would not be like my family; Alexa was wrong. She had to be. "Well, listen to me, I don't love you. Even though we have our problems, I love Alexa and I never stopped loving her. Just leave me be, Laura," I said to her and with one last, sad look I walked out of the room.

Stalking out of the room and down the stairs to the Common Room, I hastened my pace. If I could find Alexa and tell her that she was right, that I was wrong and was an idiot, if I could just apologize before it was too late then she would know that I cared. I had to make a large outrageously romantic gesture; I had to follow her this time.

When I reached the bottom of the stairs the party was still in full swing but people were beginning to notice that something was wrong. Spotting Alexa's ponytail, I shouted after her but she quickly picked up her pace and moved faster. She stopped briefly with Lyla's hand on her arm and then wrenched away and took off running out of the portrait hole.

Quickly, I pushed my way through the crowd after her, ignoring the whispers and the people talking all around me. The party had gone slightly quiet as people began to realize that something major had just happened. Before I could reach the Portrait Hole, however, I found my way being blocked by James and Remus. Blair and Lyla were standing off to the side as everyone quieted down to see what was going on.

"You need to let me through, right now. If I don't get out there then this could be the end of Alexa and I forever, do you understand that?" Both of my friends looked torn before they stood strong and didn't let me pass. I sighed and ran a hand over my face while looking at them expectantly. "Well, what do you all want from me? Time is slipping away."

"Sirius, mate, what the hell happened?" Remus asked me concernedly while putting a hand on my shoulder. James looked just as confused and I couldn't take all the questioning glances I was getting. My patience was wearing thin and when I realized they weren't going to move, I snapped.

"Remus, this is none of your damn business," I retorted while trying to make my way past. It was James that stood strong this time and I was starting to get angry as I knew Alexa could be anywhere in the castle by now. She knew all the passageways and I didn't have the map so it would take me ages to find her now. Maybe as Padfoot, if I transformed, I could catch her scent.

My musings were interrupted as Lyla put in her two cents. "Alexa is my sister, Sirius, so that makes it my business. Now, what happened? Why did my sister run out of here this time?"

The way she said it roused my emotions even more than before. Everyone always knew it was my fault. I could never make anyone happy. Maybe Alexa was better off without me when I only upset her. But I was going to do better this time; yes, I was being selfish, but I didn't want her happy with anyone else when I could only see myself being happy with her.

"Lyla, give it a rest." I replied back with my hands clenched to my side. I didn't have time for this right now. "Stop trying to fix everybody else's problems just because you can't fix your own." Lyla gasped in shock and for the third time that night my face ached tremendously. Being decked in the face by a werewolf did that to you, I assume. Though I couldn't say I didn't deserve it.

"Don't you dare bring that up, and don't you dare talk to her like that," Remus yelled at me. I looked up to see my friend standing over top of me. The anger on his face was clear and the shadows that played over him made him terrifying. "After everything she's done for you, she deserves a hell of a lot better from you." I didn't respond as I pulled myself off the ground, but I did listen to what he had to say. "And I don't know what you did to Alexa this time, but you better make it right, Sirius."

Looking between the pair, I nodded slightly while containing my anger and walked past the without a word. It wasn't Remus's fault or Lyla's fault or anyone's fault but my own and it was wrong of me to be angry with them. So without looking back I stepped out of the Common Room and into the dark passage of one of Hogwarts's many corridors. Looking around quickly, I concentrated hard and said the short incantation before my body condensed into the massive black dog.

When I finally opened my eyes and stopped breathing so heavily, everything was now in black and white and the smells of alcohol, sweat, and too much perfume over took my senses. Steadying myself quickly, I closed my eyes and used my enhanced nose to try and pick out which way Alexa could have run. Walking forward, I caught a hint of vanilla and lavender, two scents I knew her shampoo contained, and I trotted along quickly and as quietly as I could without alerting Filch's disgusting cat or the man himself.

Dogs weren't allowed in Hogwarts and I couldn't handle that shit right now. As I neared her, the sound of her heavy breathing and light voice got louder, as did the smell of vanilla and lavender. There was also an underlying smell now that became more pronounced. I couldn't stop the growl in my throat when I realized it was a musky scent that could only come from a boy. When my ears pricked up in recognition of the voice, the instinctive growling got louder.

Caradoc Dearborn.

Transforming back into my human form, I stalked quickly towards the corner of the corridor where I knew I would be able to see them sitting under the ledge of the window that overlooked the courtyard and the Black Lake. They were sitting next to each other, Alexa's legs drawn up to her chest as her arms rested on her knees while Caradoc sat next to her, turned slightly to focus completely on her. She was talking quietly, almost to herself, while he listened intently.

"I can't try anymore. I've given him everything I can think to give and nothing works. He doesn't want me anymore. And maybe I'm not worth it to him." She brought her gaze up to look at him, the sadness in her eyes enough to make me want to cry, which was quite unusual. I wanted to walk towards her, gather her in my arms and tell her how much she meant to me. How she was worth way more than what I could even begin to give her. And I also wanted to rip Dearborn to shreds as he looked at her tenderly.

"You're worth it, Alexa, and if he can't see that then he's more of an idiot than I thought." They sat staring at each other for a moment before Alexa moved closer to him and tilted her lips to meet his own. I stared in complete horror as my arch-nemesis and the love of my life kissed in front of me. The gnawing in my stomach physically hurt while I watched Alexa pull back and bite her lips.

"I'm sorry. This is just," She began before jumping to her feet and leaving Dearborn stunned where he was still sitting. Turning around, she hastened towards where I was standing and I stepped completely into the shadows as she ran back the way she had come. My chance had come. I could step towards her, call out her name, and tell her everything I was feeling. Tell her that no matter what happened I loved her and always would. Tell her that I knew she was the one for me and I would do whatever it takes to keep her with me.

But I didn't.

Instead, I waited until she had completely rounded the corner and her footsteps had died down before I stepped from the shadows and into Dearborn's line of sight. When he caught sight of my shoes, he looked up quickly before his eyes widened. "Black, how long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough, Dearborn. Haven't you learned by now that you need to stop sticking your nose into my business? Or do you need that nose broken again to learn your lesson?" I asked while my anger began to course through my body. Every single time something went wrong with Alexa and I he was always there. If I didn't know better then I'd say he probably helped Laura set this whole damn thing up. But he was too thick headed for that.

"I'm not sticking my nose into anyone's business, Black." He said standing up and facing me completely. While he was built like a Quidditch player, I knew that I could take him. And right now I was itching for a fight. One wrong move and this would not end well. Dearborn didn't seem to take the hint in my mood, however, and he pressed on. "I can't help it if I'm always going to be there for her when she needs someone to pick up the pieces."

Without warning, I lunged towards Caradoc, whose arms went up to his face in defense leaving his midsection open to my assault. We hit the ground and he rolled to where he was pinning me down. Punching me swiftly in the jaw, he sent my head careening into the hard marble floor before I sent my elbow into his midsection and hit him with an uppercut before he could retaliate.

Pushing him off of me, I scrambled to my feet. I wasn't expecting his hand, however, to grab my ankle and I went flying into the ledge of the window, knocking my head off the corner. My eyesight went blurry and before I knew what was happening I was stumbling around, knocked off balance by the blow. As black spots began to overtake my vision, I heard someone call out my name from far away and then I was falling.

The short-lived fight was now over and I wanted to laugh as I felt cool hands pressed against my cheeks. One went to my neck and I laughed before my sight wavered again. All I saw was white and green above me before someone muttered my name. My head was being placed in someone's lap and I tilted my head towards the sources where I saw red on the hands that were holding me steady. "I'm ruining your clothes." I muttered slightly and the person let out a sobbing laugh before everything around me went black.

* * *

Amulet Girl's Author's Note: Can we say DRAMA! Things are getting intense and I'm not even sure how I feel about them. Laura is being a witch, Sirius doesn't realize his own life, Alexa is just confused, and Lyla and Remus have a tough road ahead of them. It should be interesting to see how it all works out. Please keep reading even if updates take a bit longer and always REVIEW! Peace and Love.

P.S. Only a few chapters left of this story and then the sequel! Can you believe that?


	36. The Kids Are All Messed Up

AmuletGirl AN: Hello lovely people of the fanfiction world! I am so very sorry for the ridiculous wait for this chapter. I honestly am ashamed that it took this long. I beg your forgiveness and I hope you really enjoy this chapter. It's also almost winter holiday so we will hopefully be able to get chapters out a bit quicker. So, enjoy and review! Love to you all during this time of thanksgiving.

_The Kids Are All Fucked Up_

_Lyla's Point of View_

"I could kill a hooker!" I grunted as I paced back and forth in front of the fireplace. The common room was still relatively littered with people but a lot of people had left after the whole Laura incident. Which brings me back to what I just said. James, Remus and Blair all sat on a couch and watched as I burned a whole in the floor. Alexa was missing; Sirius was acting a fool; and Laura was damn lucky that I'm pregnant and couldn't kick her sorry ass. I personally thought I could still take her with ease, even considering my condition, but others disagreed.

"Lyla, just calm down, okay," Remus said, for what I'm sure was the millionth time.

"I mean did you hear her? She just came out with it and said it so insouciantly," I rattled on. I knew I was talking too much and that they were all concerned about the situation but absolutely bored with my rambling.

"Insouciantly is bad, right?" James asked, leaning in toward Remus.

Remus nodded to James. "Yes, James, it's bad," Remus, told him.

"Bad indeed, James, really bad," I emphasized. "Our lives have gone to hell and have become a freaking drama. She is such a little home wrecker."

"Um, Lyls, I know you're upset, and I dislike Laura just as much as you do, but we have bigger things to worry about right now," Blair said. I stopped and looked at her, worry written all over her face. "We still don't know where Alexa or Sirius are and I don't think this is just another one of their fights."

I looked down in shame. Blair was absolutely right. I had been going on and on about senseless people who I could care less about while Alexa was out in the castle somewhere probably tore up about the whole thing. "I know, I know," I said letting out a sigh. "I just get so frustrated by all this. I worry about her." I sat down on the couch between Remus and Blair. Blair gave me an empathetic look and linked our arms together.

"Guys," James said, "You do know it would be so simple to find the both of them. We made the Marauder's Map for a reason my dear friends. Granted, this wasn't it per say, but it sure can be applied to such a situation."

It no doubt would be helpful but that's not what we needed right now. "Alexa doesn't want to be found right now," I told him, regretfully. "And, while normally, I would completely disregard her wishes, like Blair said, this time it's different. When she's ready, she'll come to us."

"And we already saw that Sirius isn't really fit for conversing at the moment," Remus said, his hand twinging a bit in pain. "I swear they are so much alike. Both of them stubborn as hell and so set in their own ways."

"That's what made them both good and bad for each other," Blair stated. "They both were slowly learning how to compromise for one another but this was just one of those things that neither of them were willing to bend on, unfortunately."

"This is how I look at it," James started. I had a feeling this was going to be good, seeing as James was still riding his drunken high from the party. "Sirius is like a regal lion. He's the king of the jungle and everyone wants to be his mate. All the lady lions lust after the alpha male and all the other males envy the king." James looked to all of us to make sure we were following and we all nodded our heads to appease the poor boy. "Now, Alexa is a ferocious tigress." James was making all sorts of hand gestures to make his point and his face had a snarl on it as he painted a picture of the tigress.

"The tigress is a mysterious creature. For most of her life, the tigress keeps to the shadows of the jungle trees and tries to keep her affairs private, but once one boy tiger catches drift of the mystifying seductress, they are immediately captured by her presence and want to know more about the creature. The tigress could have any one of her male suitors, but they just won't do, they are too easily attainable. The lion, Sirius," he reminds us, "Loves the attention and enjoys the company of the lady lions, but he is always looking for a challenge."

"James," Remus interrupted as Blair laughed hysterically into a pillow, "Is this extremely descriptive, albeit, informative story going anywhere?"

"Moony, never interrupt a man while he is unloading nuggets of wisdom upon people," James scolded Remus. Remus nodded his head in apology and James continued. "As nature dictates, tigresses are instinctively weary of lions, especially alpha lions with questionable reputations. And alpha lions, it seems, are programmed from birth to annoy the hell out of tigresses. When this particular alpha lion got wind of this formidable tigress, he began his attack. However, instead of folding like most, this tigress stood strong and gave the lion a run for his money. Somewhere down the line, the lion and the tigress fell in love and not even nature could explain this occurrence.

"No lion or tiger seemed to support this new union, except for their close personal animal friends, and no one believed this impossible match could ever work. They thought: There could only be one ruler of the jungle, and neither of these majestic creatures would be willing to become submissive completely to the other. Science has proven to be right my dear friends; these two destroyed one another." James sat there for a moment to build suspense and then exploded, "But never fear! It is my professional opinion that science in this case is wrong. A lion and a tiger can be together, they can change to become one, rather than two separate entities, but it will take time, work, and support. Thank you."

James bowed his head and waited for our response. I looked to Remus who looked like he couldn't believe what he just heard and then to Blair who was silently sobbing from laughing so hard. I looked back at James and noticed something peculiar. "Um, James?" I said.

"Yes, Lyla, a question?" he said professionally.

"Not quite," I said plainly. James looked up questioningly. "Your pants are glowing."

"Excuse me?" James asked.

I didn't really know how else to put it. I pointed down to his pants and said again, "Your pants are glowing; literally, they are aglow."

James looked down and his illuminated pants and then back up at me sheepishly, letting out a small laugh. "Well, this is embarrassing," he said. James shifted on the couch and dug deep into his pocket. He struggled for a few minutes in an attempt to get the object out and then finally removed the object. It was a silver mirror that I knew had a twin and the Marauders used them to communicate. "Must be Sirius," he said turning the mirror around to face him. "James," the voice said. I looked up in worry immediately when I recognized the voice not as Sirius' but as Alexa's. Her voice was trembling and I could tell something was wrong. "We're on our way, Alexa, just stay put," James said hastily and then quickly stood up, returning the mirror to his pocket.

"What's wrong? Where is she?" I asked quickly. I knew in my gut that this wasn't good.

"I don't know, but something's wrong. Sirius had the mirror at the party, I'm sure of it," James said.

"Then why did Alexa have it? Was Sirius there with her?" Blair asked, worry covering her entire face.

"I didn't see him, but Alexa was crying," James told us.

Suddenly a million possibilities were running through my head. Remus put his hand on my knee to calm me and then addressed James. "Prongs, go and get the map, we'll use that to find Alexa and Sirius. Go fast, we need to find them as quickly as possible." James nodded his head and then took off toward their dormitory, Blair following closely. "Talk to me," Remus said to me, as my stress and worry levels slowly increased.

"Everything's falling apart, Remus," I said. "Something is terribly wrong, I can tell."

He pulled me up off the couch and brought me into his arms. "We're going to find Alexa and Sirius. It will all work out."

"Promise me. Promise me that everything will be okay again," I pleaded. I so desperately needed this guarantee. I needed to know that things would get better.

"I can't, Lyls," he said with sadness in his voice. "I can't ensure that everything will be fine, but I will do everything in my power to try to put things right." I squeezed him tighter. It wasn't a guarantee, but I had faith in Remus's words. I knew that Remus would go to the moon and back for me. Just as Remus released me, James and Blair were bounding down the stairs, the map in James' right hand.

"Got it right here," James said showing us the map. He unfolded the map and tapped it with his wand saying, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." After James said this, the dark delicate script of the map began to appear and various names were showing up here and there. My eyes scanned the halls of the school searching for Alexa and Sirius' names.

To get a better look, James and Remus unfolded the map to its full span. They spread in on the floor and we all dropped to the floor to search. I was getting so frustrated, there was so much castle and I just couldn't find the two names that I so desperately needed to find. "There they are!" Blair suddenly exclaimed, pointing to an area on the map.

"That's not too far from here," Remus said. "We need to move quickly, they're together, so we can't really say how bad or good it could be going." James gathered up the map and we all followed him out of the common room. As James led the way, I just followed; I didn't know where we were, I had no clue where we were going, I just knew that we had to get there. "They should be just around the corner."

I broke away from the group and forged ahead. As I rounded the corner, it seemed to be worse than we thought. Alexa was sitting on the ground and Sirius was lying down with his head in her lap. Alexa was crying and Sirius wasn't moving. I started to run over to where Alexa and Sirius were. Alexa looked up at the sound of my footsteps. "Oh, Lyla," she sobbed. "Help him, help him please."

I dropped to my knees next to Lyla and looked closer and what was going on. There was blood all over the floor and Alexa and she was pressing her now blood drenched sweatshirt against Sirius' head. She held her hands up; they were stained red. "I can't make it stop, Lyla," she said with a horrified look on her face. "It won't stop."

The others were now running up to us. "Shit, Padfoot," James said. "What the hell happened?" he asked Alexa.

"I can't get it to stop," is how she responded. "There's just more and more blood." Alexa was in shock, not that I blame her.

"We need to get him to Madame Pomfrey right now," I told James and Remus.

Remus nodded. "James, you get his head and I'll get his feet. Blair, take my coat," he said sliding out of his jacket, "And continue to apply pressure to where it's bleeding." Blair took the jacket and watched with wide, terrified eyes as James and Remus carefully lifted Sirius of the floor and out of Alexa's lap. They quickly took off down the corridor blood dripping every so often despite Blair's attempts.

Alexa just sat there and stared at the blood that was surrounding her. "Alexa," I said softly, placing my hand on her shoulder.

She looked up at me, tears flowing from her eyes. "I couldn't make it stop bleeding," she repeated.

"I know," I told her. "You did everything you could, Alexa. Madame Pomfrey will help him, I'm sure she'll make him better."

She returned her gaze to the floor and stared at her hands. "I didn't mean for any of this to happed," she said quietly. "I never wanted any of this."

"Alexa, what happened?" I asked. "Who did this to Sirius?"

"Caradoc." That little weasel! What the hell was his problem? "But it was because of me; it's always my fault. All I do is hurt him, Lyla." Alexa burst into another frantic sob. She leaned into me and put her head on my shoulder. I put my arms around my sister and tried to calm her down so she could tell me exactly what happened.

"I caught Sirius and Laura. I was so mad and hurt and Caradoc was there. He mad me feel better and like I wasn't crazy for feeling that way. We kissed, but I swear Lyla, as soon as our lips touched, I knew it was a bad idea so I put a stop to it and left. It turns out that Sirius saw the whole thing and then he got into it with Caradoc. Sirius hit his head really hard on the floor and Caradoc just ran off. Then you guys came."

Oh gosh, poor Alexa. "Alex, none of this was your fault, Caradoc is the one who hurt Sirius," I tried to reason with her.

"No, Lyla, they wouldn't have been fighting if it weren't for me. It's my fault; I hurt Sirius. That's all I ever do, I'm starting to see that now," she said trailing off into a whisper. She sat up and looked at me, wiping her eyes. The shock of it all was wearing off and she was calming down. "Can you love someone but know that you shouldn't be together?"

I went to say something but Alexa cut me off. "No, Lyla, it's true. I love Sirius, I do. He was the first person I loved; I fell completely for him. And even though we fight and disagree all the time, I always thought he was the one for me and that we belonged together."

"Alexa, I still think that's true," I told her, speaking honestly.

"Well, I don't know if I believe it anymore," she said looking away from me. "Maybe we will end up together, maybe we won't, but right now, I don't think we belong together. I don't want to hurt him anymore and I don't want to be hurt. Bottom line, we both need a lot of growing up before we can really work."

I took Alexa's hands in mine, she made a face as the blood now spread to my hands, but I didn't care. "I understand where you're coming from Alexa, I do, and I completely agree that you both have a lot of growing up to do," I told her and gave her a slight smile. "But, I also have full faith in you and Sirius. I truly believe that you two are perfect for each other. I had my doubts, but Sirius has really proved himself. Just before you make any decisions, think about it. I mean, you guys really didn't start having problems until Laura came around, and now I think Sirius sees her for who she truly is."

"I wish that were true, Lyls," she told me. "But Laura was just the breaking point, we were having all sorts of problems before that; I think our whole relationship was founded on problems. We were always fighting, and about the dumbest things."

"Every couple fights, Alexa. It's okay to disagree and argue, and you guys would always get over it and make up," I tried to tell her. In the end, the decision was Alexa's entirely, but I wanted Alexa to be happy, and I knew, deep down, she would be unhappy without Sirius.

"You and Remus hardly ever fight," she said countering what I had said. And honestly, that had to be one of the worst counterarguments I had ever heard.

"You've got to be kidding me," I said with a slight laugh. "Do I need to remind you of that huge fight we had not too long ago? That was a fight of huge, epic proportions. We stopped talking and almost broke up." Alexa frowned and I knew exactly what she was thinking. "And don't even try to say that that's different, because it's not. You always hold mine and Remus's relationship to this high esteem, and we don't deserve it. Every relationship is different, Alex, so how Remus and I work, is a lot different from you and Sirius; plus, have you looked at me lately? I'm having a baby with my 16 year old boyfriend, I wouldn't necessarily say that that is something to strive for."

Alexa smiled slightly and squeezed my hand. "I just think that maybe some time apart would do us some good. He can't trust me, and I don't think I can trust him right now."

I gave her a sympathetic smile and then pulled her into a hug. "Whatever you decide, I will support you and help you in anyway that I can," I assured her. She hugged me tighter and I began to tear up a bit. I released Alexa from my hold and then stood up, helping her up as well. "Now, let's get to the Hospital Wing, I know you're worried and so am I.

We quickly made our way through the castle and finally made it to where the rest of our friends were. When we entered the wing, James and Blair were sitting on a nearby bed, Blair in James' arms and Remus was at the foot of Sirius' bed looking downtrodden. Sirius was lying in the bed, motionless. He had a bandage on his head and had a bag of blood hooked into his arm.

Alexa stayed back a little bit, not wanting to get any closer, and I went over to Remus. I put my hands on his shoulders and leaned against his back. Remus took my hands in his and I leaned my head on his shoulder. "Are you okay?" I asked.

"The last time we talked, we were fighting. I punched him, Lyla," he said with a frustrated sigh.

"Remus, he knew he was out of line, and he knows that you were just defending me," I said, trying to put him at ease. "He hasn't woken up yet?"

"No," he said sadly. "Madame Pomfrey said he had lost quite a bit of blood and that he may be out for a while." I suddenly remembered the blood on my hands and elsewhere on my body. "How's Alexa doing?"

"She's pretty upset," I said. "She thinks it's her fault. Sirius saw Alexa and Caradoc kiss, Caradoc hit Sirius, and then Sirius hit his head." I felt Remus tense up as I mentioned Caradoc. "Don't worry about him right now, and don't think about hitting him again," I warned him, "Just be here for your friend."

Remus rubbed my arm and relaxed a bit. "I won't hit him, but I'm not going to stop James from doing it once he finds out," he said with slight satisfaction in his voice. I smiled slightly and just accepted those terms. Because Alexa still didn't want to see Sirius like this, I sat on the other side of the room with her as the others sat around Sirius' bed. Madame Pomfrey came out after a while to check on Sirius and to scold us for underage drinking. She could apparently smell the alcohol and 'she had been around long enough to tell an inebriated fool from a sober one', her words, not mine.

After a few long hours, Sirius began to regain consciousness. All of us, except Alexa, rushed to his side as he groaned awake. "Bloody hell," he said groggily. I couldn't help but smile a bit. "I feel like shit." He reached up to where the bandage was and touched it gingerly.

"You look like shit too," James said. Blair hit James and Sirius smiled.

"Thanks mate, that's encouraging," he said, moving slightly in his bed. He looked past me and saw Alexa standing there alone. He next shifted his gaze to me and I gave him a look that said everything, and he understood.

"Sirius," Remus started.

"I'm sorry," Sirius finished. "I was out of line and I deserved it. Just forget it, okay?" Remus nodded his head and then gave him a brotherly pat on the shoulder. "Well, we should probably get out of here and let you rest, Madame Pomfrey told us we had to leave when you woke up."

Remus, Blair and James said their goodbyes and I let them all leave before I said mine. I leaned in and gave Sirius a hug. "How bad is it?" he asked looking over to Alexa again.

"It's not good," I told him honestly. He gave me a weak smile and nodded. "I hope you guys can work it out, though."

"Thank you, Lyls," he said squeezing my hand. "And I'm sorry for what I said earlier, I didn't mean it."

I shrugged my shoulders and downplayed the situation. "You were right, it was really none of my business. I need to let Alexa deal with this stuff on her own and only help when I'm asked. And I was in part doing it, I think, because I don't quite have a grip on my own situation; but I'm working on that. So, I'm sorry as well." I gave him another best friend hug and a small peck on his cheek. "Good luck."

I turned and walked over to Alexa, whom I could tell was nervous as hell, and pulled her into a hug. "Do what you think is best," I told her. I gave her a smile and then left without looking back to make sure she was okay. The other three were waiting out in the corridor for me when I closed the door behind me.

We all went back to Gryffindor Tower and we were all left with the unsatisfactory feeling that there was nothing that we could do to help the situation. The common room was entirely empty by now and the castle was really quiet considering all that had happened. Blair and James walked in front of Remus and I. Blair had her head rested on James shoulder as they walked. "So are you going to tell James that Caradoc was behind all this?" I asked Remus.

Remus tilted his head giving the question a great deal of thought. "Yeah I'll tell him. That is, after we get up to the dorm room so I can seal the door and maybe even handcuff James to his bed," he said in all seriousness. I thought about it for a moment and just had to laugh. "What?" he asked as I continued to giggle.

"I'm sorry," I said, trying to stifle my laughter, "That just sounded so dirty." Remus's eyes opened wide in shock that I was joking about this.

He pulled me to him and kissed the top of my head. "Let's hope our baby doesn't inherit that dirty mind of yours, my darling," he said jokingly. I gave him a slight elbow to the stomach and continued to laugh a bit.

"So what to do now, crew?" James asked, turning around abruptly to face us.

Remus gave me a wink and then walked over to James, slinging an arm around his shoulders. "James, my boy, I thought we'd just turn in for the night and maybe have a little chatsie," Remus said, sounding very upbeat.

James immediately got an elated look on his face. "Oh! A chatsie, it's been too long, brother," James exclaimed excitedly. I just shook my head at him and smiled. He looked over his shoulder at Blair and said, "Goodnight, Bear." Then the two boys disappeared up the stairs. James may be in a good mood at the moment but that soon would change once he found out about Caradoc.

Blair came over to me now and pulled me into a hug. "Well, I think I'm going to bed, you heading up too?" she asked. "You need to get your sleep, Lyls."

I gave Blair a grateful smile. "Yes, I know, Blair," I told her. "I'll be up in a few, I promise." Blair wrinkled her nose and stuck out her pinky. I looped my pinky with hers and she gave me an understanding nod. Blair let out a huge yawn as she headed up the steps to our dorm and bid me goodnight.

Truthfully, I was extremely tired, but I wanted to wait up for Alexa. She was going to need someone once she got back from the hospital. I settled myself into a couch and made myself comfortable as I waited. As I sat there in the silence, I began to get the sick feeling that I had been getting a lot lately whenever I was alone with my thoughts.

Thankfully, not too much later, Alexa walked in looking more downtrodden than I had ever seen her. She saw me out of the corner of her eye and walked over in silence. She plopped down next to me and let out a huge sigh. "How are you doing?" I asked her.

She leaned her head back against the couch. "Awful," she said truthfully. "I hate what I did, but I really think this is what we need. I just need some time to adjust I suppose." I nodded my head and squeezed her hand. "I just don't want to think about it anymore, I keep second guessing myself the more I dwell on it. Tell me something to take my mind off all this."

I looked down at my lap and the new edition to my left hand caught my eye. "Well, Remus proposed to me tonight," I told her with a smile. She sat up and was beaming at me. She looked down at my hand and lifted it closer to her to get a better look at the ring.

"Lyla!" she said covering her mouth as she looked back at the ring. "That's incredible. It's so beautiful," she gushed. "Congratulations." Alexa pulled me into a hug and squeezed me tight.

"Thank you," I replied as she released me from her hold. "I'm glad you approve," I said jokingly.

"Of course I approve," she said. "I knew it would happen sooner or later, I guess it just happened sooner than we thought." I nodded my head in agreement.

"We thought it would be best for the baby. And like you said, it was going to happen anyway, so why wait given the circumstances," I explained.

She just smiled at me and nodded. "You know mom and dad are going to kill you, right?" she asked with a shit-eating grin.

"I am aware," I said with a laugh. "I'm hoping the Easter holiday will put them in a forgiving mood, but that's probably just wishful thinking." Alexa's look told me that I was absolutely correct. "Well, what about you? You're going to have to explain to everyone why Sirius isn't there."

The smile quickly left Alexa's face and she looked away. "Well, not quite," she said. I gave her a questioning look. If she really thought no one would notice his absence, she was more delusional than I thought. "I told Sirius he should still come." I went to say something, but I didn't know what to say. I was extremely confused. "Sirius is still coming."

"Yeah, I gathered that," I said, "But I thought you guys weren't together anymore, or did I misinterpret that completely?"

"No, you're right, we aren't together, but that doesn't mean he can't still come to Easter. He is still everyone's friend and he has a right to be there," she pointed out, very maturely, I might add.

"Are you sure that won't be hard for you two?" I questioned, making sure she had really thought this decision through.

Alexa shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. It just seems that it would just make it so much weirder if he wasn't there, I mean, the family is in love with him and Claire would be crushed if she didn't get to see him." I looked over Alexa's face trying to determine if she was really okay with all this. Unfortunately, I couldn't really tell, so I guess I would just have to take her word for it and see how it goes.

"One thing's for sure," I said leaning back into the couch and linking my arm with my sister's, "This is going to be an Easter to remember."

"Yeah," Alexa said. We sat there for a few moments and then she added, "It's going to suck so bad."

"Indeed," I responded listlessly. Nothing celebrates the rising of Christ quite like teen pregnancy, am I right?

I stared out the window as the beautiful newly blooming countryside blurred by. I had remained quiet most of the ride; I just had too much on my mind. It was Easter holiday, which meant that I finally would have to tell my parents that I was pregnant. My parents were always really understanding of most things, but something told me that they wouldn't exactly be comfortable with their sixteen year old daughter being pregnant with a werewolf's child.

"Lyla!" Alexa suddenly exclaimed, drawing my attention away from the window. "Stop shaking your leg, it's driving me crazy." I looked down at my leg and saw that it was convulsing. I quickly stopped the shaking and gave her an apologetic smile. "Thank you."

"What's wrong, Lyls?" Blair asked. "You haven't said a word and you've been staring out the window this whole time. Are you okay?"

"I thought I was, but now I'm freaking out!" I said honestly. "Mom and Dad are going to kill me." Remus put his arm around me and pulled me to his chest. I knew he was freaking out about this too.

"That is absolutely true," James chimed in. "But," he said quickly continuing upon seeing my panicked look, "You will rise from the ashes like the phoenix that you are."

James just gave me his usual goofy smile. "Thanks, James, that was extremely uplifting." James gave me a nod and looked satisfied with himself. I looked over to Sirius who was sitting quietly reading. Him and Alexa were sitting as far apart as possible and they hadn't said a word to one another. Amongst all the stuff that I was dealing with, I was very interested to see how Sirius continuing to join us for Easter was going to work out.

"So, Moony, what about you? Are you freaking out?" James asked. "I can picture it now, Gary with his hands around your neck, and—"

"Okay," Remus said cutting James off. "I think that's quite enough, thank you." James just shrugged his shoulders. "We're just going to take it step by step. We'll get through this, I know it." Remus laced our fingers together and kissed my temple.

"Now, know that I love you," Alexa started with a smile, "But I can't wait until they find out. I'm just curious to see their reaction."

My jaw dropped and I looked at her in shock. "Good to know you care, Alex," I chastised.

"Oh, come on!" she said frustrated. "It's not like I wanted you to get pregnant, but, I won't lie, I'm anxious to see how mom and dad handle this news. You've always been perfect Lyla who always follows the rules, and I've always been Alexa, the screw-up. The tables have turned and I think I'm going to enjoy being in your shoes for a while."

"I love how you take such satisfaction from my problems," I told her, giving her a smile. "Well, this is definitely your chance to be the perfect daughter, I will be promptly demoted as soon as we tell them I'm now an unwed teen mother. Have fun at the top, it's a long fall down." As soon as I said this last part I realized how incredibly pessimistic I sounded.

"Well, damn," James, said. "That's severely depressing."

"I'm sorry," I said while laughing slightly at my ridiculous behavior. "But, seriously, can you all promise me something?" James, Sirius, Alexa and Blair all stopped what they were doing and gave me their full attention. "I need you to promise to not say a word about this to anyone until we tell mom and dad. And actually, I would like to try to keep this from the majority of the family for as long as I can so just don't say anything. Can you guys do that for me?" A slur of mumbles followed my question. "Can you guys handle that?" I asked again, this time more forcefully. They all quickly jumped in with compliance. "Raise your right hand."

"Oh, Lyla, we promised, isn't that enough?" Alexa complained.

"Raise your right hand," I said giving her a look. She rolled her eyes and raised her hand along with the other three. "In raising your right hand," I started, "You solemnly swear that you will not release any information pertaining to mine and Remus' current situation. You will not make any cryptic jokes or references that could possibly lead some family member to figure out what is going on. Also you will not even mention the word baby or anything pertaining to pregnancy or getting engaged. If you swear to adhere by these guidelines, please say 'I solemnly swear'."

"I solemnly swear," they all said in unison.

"Very good," I said with a smile. Even thought they swore, I just couldn't help but think that things were going to go horribly wrong. And who could blame me? Things never typically went the way we wanted them to and it would be a miracle if any of them kept their mouths shut.

We could feel the train slowing down and we knew we were close. I was that much closer to having to keep secrets from my whole family, from having to walk on eggshells in my own house, to telling my parents that I was pregnant. The train came to a complete stop and we all gathered our things. Remus took my hand in his and gave me an encouraging smile. We stepped onto the platform and immediately saw our parents waiting for us. I could feel my heart racing as my mother walked toward me. She had a beaming smile on her face and she pulled me into a hug. "Oh, darling, it's so good to see you!" she exclaimed. At the same time my father was hugging Alexa while James, Blair, Sirius and Remus stood by. "How are you, sweetheart? You look tired," she said looking me over with concern. "Are you getting enough sleep? Are you eating enough? You look a bit peaky."

"Leave the poor girl alone, Evon," my father thankfully cut in. "She's not been home for ten minutes and you're already fussing. Come here," he said with a wink and pulling me toward him. I hugged my father close and took in his smell. I hadn't realized how much I missed my dad until in that moment. Mom and Dad greeted the rest of the crew and then we all headed back to the house.

"My dear, Alexa," Mom started again, "I couldn't help but notice that you are not so effectively avoiding your mother. Could it be because you are trying to keep your new hairstyle from me?" Alexa poked her head out from behind our father's broad shoulders and she gave our mother a sheepish smile.

"So, you noticed?" she asked with a nervous laugh.

"Of course I noticed," my mother exclaimed. "What on earth did you do to your beautiful hair?"

Alexa ran her fingers through her short blonde mane and looked sad as she did so. "Well, I cut it all off and I dyed it blonde," she said straight forward.

"I realize that dear," my mom said, but I could tell she wasn't satisfied with that explanation. "And what was the cause of this drastic change? Surely you didn't change your entire appearance on a mere whim." The air suddenly got tense and I cheated a look at Sirius who was looking down at the ground guiltily.

I saw Alexa look back at Sirius and she sighed. She shook her head and then responded, "No reason," she said, "It was pretty spur of the moment. Thinking back on it, it was pretty stupid to do, but it's just hair. It will grow back eventually and I haven't decided on whether I want to keep the color." Our mother just shook her head disapprovingly and linked her arm through my father's as they continued ahead. Alexa looked over to me and gave me a look. "You better relish in this moment," she leaned in and whispered to me. "Don't worry, I'll make sure to remember you when I'm at the top." She gave me a smile and I elbowed her, rolling my eyes.

The whole way home, mom was freaking out about everything and was running over list after list of preparations. Mom had always been a bit anal about things, but I never remember it being this bad. "What the bloody hell is wrong with Mom," Alexa asked aloud to no one in particular.

"Please don't get her started," Dad said shaking his head.

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with me!" she asked frantically. "This break is going to be a disaster." Didn't I know it? "Everything is just wrong and it's going to be horrible."

"What's going to be so horrible? Have we missed something?" Alexa asked. "Easter has never been that difficult before."

"Well, my mother is now involved, so that automatically makes things that much more unpleasant," my mother said dismally.

"Gran is coming?" I quickly asked. This was just getting worse. We hadn't heard from Gran in years. My mother's side of the family is all muggles and when my mother married my father they decided to keep his magic a secret and that kind of drove distance between my mother and Gran. Although, she never really cared too much for Dad anyways, seeing as my father's Scottish. Adding that he's magical would have just been too much for dear ole Gran. Gran was funny about those sorts of things; she just didn't think it proper for her proper English daughter to marry a wild Scottish boy. We would see Gran from time to time but apparently there was a huge falling out between her and my mom around the time I was born and Gran pretty much disowned my mother.

"Yes, Gran is coming and so is Suzi," my mom informed us. Suzanne was my mother's younger sister. Gran always seemed to favor Aunt Suzi and I don't ever really remember her as a pleasant person.

"So, what, are they coming before the Parker side comes?" Alexa asked trying to clarify.

"Of course not," Mom said angrily. "Mother had to be difficult and insisted that they come on Easter and only on Easter. And we would have told all of Dad's family to cancel but that proved to be too much of a hassle because a lot of people rearranged their schedules for this. So, now, it's going to be a Parker Hennley Easter." Alexa and I looked at each other in concern.

"I don't get it, why is it so bad that your mom's side is coming?" James asked, so naively.

"Well, Mom doesn't quite get along with her mother, or her sister for that matter," Alexa explained. "Gran only had contact with us when we were little and even then, she refused to see our mother, just us. Eventually she just gave up on our whole family. Our grandmother is very judgmental of Mom and Dad."

"Isn't it good that they want to come though?" Sirius asked, speaking for the first time since we all piled onto the train. "Maybe she wants to patch things up with your mom."

"Knowing Gran, she probably has ulterior motives for coming," I told him. "And also, it's not good because my muggle grandmother and aunt will be in a house full of witches and wizards. We're not going to be able to use magic while they're around. And that may be a bit difficult keeping all the Parkers under control."

"Wait, your grandmother doesn't know that her daughter married a wizard and has two daughters who are witches?" Blair questioned.

"That's right," Alexa said. "They don't even know that magic exists."

"I'm confused," James added, looking highly perplexed. "We won't be able to do magic or talk about magic for the whole break?"

"Right, James," I told him. "No magic, at least while Gran and Aunt Suzi are around."

James gasped. "No quidditch?" he asked, the most terrified look on his face. I shook my head and his whole face dropped. He looked like someone had just told him that he was going to die in three days. "That is just depressing. This is really going to put a damper on this holiday season."

"Somehow, I think I can find something for you to do that's even better than playing quidditch," Blair said in a seductive way.

James looked down at her for a moment and then responded. "There is nothing better than playing quidditch. I don't even know what you could be referring to." Blair gave him a death stare and then dropped James's hand.

"You are unbelievable," Blair said angrily.

"What?" James asked desperately. "What did I do?" Sirius just laughed and shook his head at his friend. "I can never win with her, I swear."

As we got back to the house, I swear I could feel the buzzing energy from inside the house. Part of me was excited to see my family, but it also made me nervous. "So is Gran here now?" Alexa asked looking up and down the street searching for Aunt Suzi's car.

"No," my mother said quickly. "She thankfully isn't coming until Easter day and she's only staying for the day." A wave of relief spread over me. It's not that I didn't want to see Gran, it's just I didn't think I could handle the tension of her being there on top of everything else.

As we made our way up the walkway, all our bags in hand, I suddenly heard a voice drift toward us. "They're here! They're here!" I looked toward the source, and there, leaning out one of the front windows was Xavier screaming frantically. Within a matter of minutes, the front door was opened and the entire family was in the doorway.

Breaking out of the mass, Claire ran forward, a smile spread across her face a mile wide. She made a beeline for Sirius and grabbed onto him with tight arms. "Sirius!" she squealed. "Did you miss me?" she asked.

Sirius dropped his bags and squatted down to properly hug her. "Of course I missed you, Cee," Sirius said, very older brotherly.

"Now, Claire, you let that poor boy go," Zoe called out. "They haven't even made it into the house, for goodness sake." Claire gave Sirius a mischievous smile and then scampered off back toward her mother. I looked over to Alexa who was watching Sirius with a longing look on her face. I nudged her with my elbow and gave her an encouraging smile, which she returned weakly.

We finally made it into the actual house after greeting family member upon family member. The atmosphere in the house was great; it was so loving and joyful. The whole family was present, even Monica and her new husband attended. Alexa came over to me, looking flustered. "Can we please go up to the room, this is becoming too much to handle. I need to get away from everyone," she said breathily. I of course knew that when she said everyone she clearly meant Sirius, even if she wouldn't admit it. I nodded my head in agreement. "Dad," Alexa yelled over the chatter, "We're going to head up to our room and put our stuff down. Will you show the boys where they'll be staying?"

"Actually, they'll be staying with you girls," Dad said. Alexa looked at me in shock. I too was surprised by this turn of events. "We had to shift everything around, so, against my wishes, the boys will be up in your room."

Alexa shook her head frantically. "Dad that is a terrible idea. I mean, you've always said we should never trust boys, why change that now?" Dad slipped his arm around Alexa's shoulders and gave her a squeeze.

"No change, darling," he said with a smile. "I said what I said and I stick by that. You see, I'm allowing the boys to stay with you, but there are some stipulations." Alexa looked up at my father and he pulled me closer to him, holding his two girls. "While I trust you two and Blair, I still have certain trust issues with your male companions. I was their age once; I'm not stupid. So, to avoid any nonsense, Claire and Eleanor will be sleeping with you lot." Alexa and I looked at each other with concern.

"Claire and Eleanor are staying with us?" Alexa questioned. "Won't that be a bit crowded, Dad?"

"Rubbish," Dad said quickly. "The more crowded it is, the less room you all have to do… you won't be able to… well, there just won't be any funny business."

"Okay Dad," I said, saving him from having to explain what he meant, "We get the picture. And don't worry, nothing will happen, I can promise you that."

Dad gathered up Alexa's things and mine and he started to carry them upstairs. Alexa sided up next to me. "I don't know if I'm more concerned about the boys being in there or having Eleanor in there. You'll probably have to beat her off Remus with a stick," she jokingly said.

"Honestly, Alex, that is the least of my worries," I told her. "I'm a bit more concerned about her finding out that I'm pregnant," I added in a whisper. "You know how much of a snoop she is. She is just going to try and find out any secrets that we have."

Alexa took in everything that I was saying and nodded your head. "Yeah, that is going to suck for you," she said. "I have no secrets, I have nothing to hide, and I am golden." Alexa looked off into the distance with a satisfying smile on her face.

"Oh, so you're cool if I just go around telling everyone that you and Sirius broke up? Eleanor will be the first to know," I said knocking Alexa down a few notches.

Her head snapped around to look at me and she narrowed her eyes. "Previous statements retracted," she said dryly. "Well played, sister. Well played." I started laughing and gave my sister a nudge. She rolled her eyes at me and ran over to Blair and pulled her along toward the stairs; I quickly followed after.

Dad was leaving just as we were entering our room. Alexa and Blair immediately collapsed on Alexa's bed and Little Sirius ran playfully out of the bathroom at the sound of our voices. But I just stopped in the doorway and looked around my childhood room. I was seeing my room from a whole different perspective. This was the room that I had grown up in. This room is where I had spent days upon days playing with Alexa. This room, in a sense, shaped my childhood and my future. It was in this room that I thought about all the things that I wanted to do, all the things I wanted to be.

Would my baby have any of this? What kind of future would they have? Could I ever provide them with a life like my parents were able to give Alexa and me? There was so much that I wanted my child to have, but I honestly didn't know if I would be able to give them everything. I didn't want them to want for anything, but at seventeen how could I possibly give them the world when I was still just a kid myself?

"Hey, Lyla," Alexa said drawing me out of my thoughts. She and Blair were lying on her bed and Blair was patting the spot next to her. "Care to move from the doorway and join us?" I smiled widely and then went over to join my two best friends. "So what were you thinking about so deeply, my sister?"

I let out a sigh. "Oh, nothing really," I said, "Just the future and stuff."

"I still can't believe you're going to have a baby," Alexa said. "I don't think it will fully set in until the baby is actually here. It's just so weird. It wasn't supposed to happen like this; especially not to you."

"Well, when you have sex, stuff like this happens," I said, sounding like an abstinence campaign or something.

"Not to get too personal, "Blair started," But didn't you guys use protection I mean, you know how it all works."

"We did protect ourselves, I'm not that stupid," I told them. "Bottom line though, even if you take every precaution, you still run the risk of getting pregnant."

We sat there in silence for a few minutes as I stroked Little Sirius's silky smooth fur. Alexa opened her mouth to say something, but then closed her mouth remaining silent. I could almost literally see the wheels turning in Alexa's head. She opened her mouth again and spoke this time. "Do you regret it?" she asked. I just looked at her. "I mean do you wish you would have waited?"

I thought about it for a moment, but I knew my answer. "Yes, I wish I would have waited," I said honestly. "Not because I don't think Remus is the right one, but because we were just so young. In no way do I regret it though. I love Remus and I wouldn't have wanted my first time with anybody else, but it wouldn't have hurt for us to wait a little longer." Alexa's face saddened and she looked away from us. I knew what she was thinking and I put my hand on her shoulder. "Alexa, I know you're thinking about Sirius and what you and Sirius had was special. You don't regret what you did with him, right?"

"No, I don't regret it, per say," she replied. "But now that we aren't together, I just wonder if we should have waited. I thought that we would be together forever, but clearly I was wrong. I wanted my first time to be with someone who I would grow old with and I was stupid for thinking Sirius was that guy, I guess."

"Alexa, stop," Blair spoke up. "You and Sirius were great together and you two would have stayed together forever if it wasn't for that evil Laura."

"But that's the point, isn't it?" Alexa quickly jumped in. "There is always going to be some girl or something else getting in the way. If Sirius falls for these distractions so easily it never could work between us; or between any girl and Sirius for that matter." It seemed that there was really nothing we could say to Alexa to make her feel better, so she did what she always did: changed the subject. "So, when do you and Reems plan on tying the knot?"

"A date hasn't been set, and we haven't really made any plans yet. I'm not really too worried about the details at the moment. It all just happened so fast, I haven't really had time to think about it," I explained.

"You haven't thought about it? How could you not have? I have literally been planning my wedding since my fifth birthday," Blair said with a satisfied smile. "I can already tell that I'm going to be planning this wedding. Let's see, you already have the ring, and it's stunning at that." I looked down at my now bare left ring finger and thought about the ring that was safely hidden in my suitcase. Blair's face suddenly got very bright and excited. "And I can't wait to help you pick out a fabulous dress!"

"Actually, that's the part that I'm least excited about," I told her.

"The dress is the most important part though. That's what makes the wedding," Blair gushed.

"Oh really? I always thought the couple being in love was the most important part," I joked with her.

"Yeah that's good too," she said, "But everyone remembers the dress. Why aren't you excited about getting a dress? We'll all go together and make a day out of it, it will be fun." I remained silent just thinking about the awful experience of finding a dress. "We'll try on hideous bridesmaid's dresses to make it that much better." I smiled slightly at her.

"As hilarious as that sounds, that doesn't really do it for me," I told her, felling like I had just crushed her dreams. "I don't want to go look for a dress because I'm going to be hugely pregnant, and there's nothing like trying on thousands of dresses that will never fit or look good on me to help my self-esteem."

"That's what you're worried about?" Alexa asked looking at me oddly. "Lyls, you'll look stunning no matter what and besides, you may not even get that big, look at you now, you aren't even showing."

"You think that just because I'm really good at hiding it," I told her. "My stomach is starting to stick out and people are going to begin to notice."

Alexa quickly got up off the bed and stood before Blair and me. "Lift up your shirt," she said in all seriousness with her hands on her hips. I sat up and just looked at her in curiosity. "You heard me, lift up your shirt." I slowly got up off of the bed and stood before my sister. She put her hands on my shoulders and guided me over to the full-length mirror by the bathroom door.

I lifted up my shirt and looked at my slightly protruding stomach. "Look at it," I said rubbing my hand over the smooth skin of my abdomen.

"You can't even tell that you're pregnant," Blair said standing behind me and looking into the mirror.

"I've gained weight," I informed them. "I'm just getting bigger and bigger."

"Well, if you've gained weight, it really hasn't gone to your stomach," Alexa said. "Any added pounds have gone to your boobs. Look at them, they're rather large nowadays."

I looked at Alexa in the mirror. "Thank you, Alexa, as if I hadn't noticed. Your boobs get bigger when you're pregnant, it's not like I can exactly help it," I said, the subject a little sore.

"Sorry, I was just saying," she said in an apologetic tone. I gave her a look and then returned my gaze to my stomach. I turned to the side and stuck my stomach out even more to see what I'd look like once I go really pregnant. "Okay, this is going to sound weird, but can I touch your stomach?"

"No, you freak," I told her immediately. "That's just weird. I don't like being touched under normal circumstances, and I especially don't want to be touched now."

"Oh, come on!" she pleaded. "I just want to see if I can feel my nephew or niece kick or move or something."

"You're not going to be able to feel anything," I told her. Alexa opened her eyes wide and stuck out her bottom lip. "Oh, my gosh," I said frustrated. "Fine, you can do it, just don't get too handsy." Alexa and Blair both stuck out their hands and placed them gently on my stomach.

Alexa let out a shiver. "It's so weird," she said moving her hand around to different places. "There is a child in there, just chilling."

"I wonder if it can hear us and stuff?" Blair asked as she leaned down toward my belly.

"I read somewhere that they actually can hear noises outside the womb. I don't know what all they understand but they can hear sounds and sometimes even associate them with people once they're born," I informed them.

Alexa dropped down to her knees and put her face uncomfortably close to my abdomen. "Hey in there," she said. I shook my head at her but Blair followed suit and lowered herself even closer to my stomach. "I'm your favorite aunt, Alexa."

"You wish," Blair said to Alexa. "Hi little baby, my name is Blair, and _I'm _your favorite auntie." Alexa narrowed her eyes at her and stuck her tongue out. "I can't wait to meet you and spoil you rotten. I know you're mommy and daddy are real excited to meet you too." Blair looked up at me and gave me a smile.

"Yes, I can't wait to meet you either," Alexa, added. "I will teach you everything you need to know about life."

"Umm…" I cut in, "I think we'll leave his or her moral upbringing to me and Remus, not you," I joked.

Alexa just rolled her eyes at me. "Boys are stupid," she said slowly to my stomach. "That's all you really need to know."

"Very nice, Alexa," Blair said smacking Alexa's arm.

"What are you guys doing?" With their hands still on my tummy we turned our heads to locate the voice that had just spoken. In the doorway were Eleanor and Claire. Eleanor was looking at us skeptically and Claire was watching in confusion.

"Well," Alexa started, "We were just playing a game." I looked down at Alexa and she just shrugged her shoulders. Blair and I just nodded in agreement.

"A game?" Claire asked running forward. "I want to play!"

Blair and Alexa pulled their hands away and stood up. "Blair just won so the game's over," Alexa said as she picked up Claire and pulled her into a hug. "Sorry, Claire. But we'll play a game later." Claire gave Alexa a winning smile and we all turned toward Eleanor who still looked skeptical. "Eleanor, did you need something?"

"Well, Remus and I were having a lovely talk," she began and Alexa shot me a shit-eating grin, "And he asked me if I'd seen Lyla. I told him I thought you had gone upstairs, so he asked me if I would fetch you all."

"Okay, thanks Eleanor," I said with a smile. I stepped past her in the doorway and headed downstairs, Blair and Alexa right behind me. I quickly found Remus and rescued him before Eleanor returned.

"Where have you been?" he asked as I led him into the less crowded kitchen. "Eleanor just kept talking and talking, I was so bored." I laughed as we sat down at the island in the middle of the kitchen. "It's not funny, Lyla. I thought she was going to attack me when she first saw me."

"I'm sorry," I said trying to stifle my laughter. "You're right, it's not funny."

"Thank you," he said running a hand through his hair. "Now where were you while I was suffering oh so greatly."

"I was upstairs with Alex and Blair. We were just talking," I told him.

He nodded his head and then looked around the empty kitchen just to make sure no one was around. "I talked to my parents," he said. "They told me to just come over whenever tomorrow." I took a breath and then nodded. "I figure we can just wake up, get ready, and then head over there. So, that means we should probably tell your parents tonight." The last thing my mom needed right now was to hear that her daughter is pregnant, but they needed to know; and maybe they'd come to terms with it by the time Easter day rolled around and we had to deal with Gran on top of everything else.

"Okay, we'll talk to them after everyone goes to bed, when they're having their tea," I said, remembering when we did the same thing when I told them that Remus was a werewolf. I could only hope that they would take this news just as good. "And if you don't mind, could Alexa be in there with us when we tell them? Her being there will make me feel a little better."

"Yeah, you can bring whomever you'd like," he said taking one of my hands in his. "You do what you need to do to help us get through this." I felt tears coming to my eyes. I quickly wiped away the tears as they started to fall. "What's wrong, Lyls?" he asked with concern as he brushed the hair out of my eyes.

"I'm sorry," I said, slightly laughing at myself. "You're just too good to me. Seriously, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't be able to do this. I'm glad I'm going through this with you."

"I'm glad I'm going through this with you too," he said. "I love you, I'll always love you. And no matter what our parents say, they can never make me stop loving you or keep me from loving our child any less; I just want you to know that."

"Now, why are you two in here away from the rest of the family?" Alexa asked as she peeked her head through the swinging door. "I know you two are in love and stuff, but that is no excuse to just lock yourselves away from everyone else, especially your favorite sister." Alexa made her way over to the island and sat on the stool across from me.

"We're telling Mum and Dad tonight," I said just getting it out in the open.

Alexa's bright smile quickly diminished and it was replaced with an almost sad look. "Oh," she said dryly. "Well, that's one way to kill the mood." That was Alexa for you. Whenever things got heavy or tough, she would always just try to play them off. "Is there anything I can do?"

I leaned across the counter and took her hands. "Will you be there with me when we tell them?" I asked. A look of terror came over my sister. "I know it's a lot to ask and that you hate these kinds of tense situations, but I need you there, I need my sister."

Alexa squeezed my hands and half-smiled. "If you can go through all of this, then the least I can do is sit through probably the most awkward conversation on the planet," she assured me. "I will be there to support you in any way that I can." She got up from her spot and moved toward me to pull me into a hug.

After a few more tears on my part and a good many hugs, Alexa, Remus and I returned to the hectic living room where the family was buzzing about. The chatter calmed to a dull roar after a while and various member of the family began to peel off to do their own things. The afternoon passed into evening and dinner passed in a blur. I had only one thing on my mind and nothing else seemed to matter.

I slowly approached the swinging door that led to the kitchen. I could feel Alexa and Remus right behind me. Almost all the lights were turned off in the house and the light shinning from around the rim of the door seemed to pierce my eyes like daggers. My hand met the cool door and the weight of it seemed almost too much to handle, but I managed to push it open. There at the kitchen table, as usual, sat my parents drinking their evening tea.

They noticed our presence immediately as I opened the door. "Hello dears," my mother said with a smile. "Is everything alright?" Now wasn't that just an abstract question.

Without even realizing it, I was speaking. It was like I didn't have control of my own body and thoughts. "May we have some tea with you?" I asked.

"Of course, my darling," my father spoke. "Have a seat. Evon, get three cups." The three of us sat down around the table as my mother hurried to the cupboard to fetch three additional teacups. She placed the three cups in front of us and carefully filled them with tea. As the steam began to drift up toward my nostrils, my mother returned to her seat. "So how is school going? Well, I hope," my father said, trying to fill the silence.

Knowing what I was about to tell them, made talking about school seem like an absurd topic of discussion. I knew that if I didn't tell them soon, I was just going to feel worse inside and I would somehow talk myself out of telling them. Ignoring my father's question I said, "There's no easy way to say this."

My mother set her tea down and gave my father a look. "Okay, well, are you falling behind in your work?" my mother asked. "You've always done exceptional in school, Lyla, I'm sure you can't be doing that poorly."

I closed my eyes and shook my head. "No, this has nothing to do with school," I said quickly.

"Oh, so you're doing alright then?" Mom pressed.

"Yes, Mother, I'm doing splendidly in school," I assured her. I saw her body relax.

"Thank heavens," she said with a sigh and touching my father's arm in relief. "Not that we would have been upset if you had fallen a little behind. You've worked incredibly hard over the years and it's understandable for you to slip up on some work. It's just I know the kind of perfectionist you are, and sometimes I worry that maybe you're pushing yourself too hard. I just—"

"Stop," I said a little harshly. I felt Remus's hand on mine under the table. I quickly grabbed a hold of it and held it tightly. "Stop," I repeated. My heartbeat quickened and I just looked down at my lap. I took in a quick breath as I began to cry slightly. "I'm pregnant." For a second, I couldn't tell if I had actually verbalized my thoughts. But as soon as I looked up and saw the faces of my parents, I knew I had it. My parents just looked at me. They said nothing, just stared. My father's face was a mixture of sadness and anger and my mother's of judgment and disgust. "I'm sorry," I added quietly.

And then, their silence was broken. "Sorry?" my mother questioned. "Sorry? How could you be so stupid?" she said raising her voice. My father covered his face and rubbed his temple while my mother's blood began to boil. "What the hell were you thinking? And you," she said looking at Remus now, "What were you thinking? I didn't even know you were having sex."

"I'm sorry," I said again. I honestly didn't know what else to say.

"Oh, don't apologize to me," my mother said with disgust, "You need to apologize to that poor child who is going to have two teen parents who can barely take care of themselves." Her words hit me like a ton of bricks. My heart felt like it had just been punctured and I started to get angry. "Apologize to your son or daughter for having them out of wedlock and making them a bastard child."

"Ev," my father said, speaking for the first time.

"No, Gary, this is not okay. I will not let her think that this is okay," my mother spat at my father, getting louder and louder. "If she's old enough to have sex and get pregnant, then she's old enough for me to talk to her like an adult."

"She is still your daughter, Evon," Dad tried to reason.

"This is not the daughter I raised," my mother said coldly.

I don't know what it was, but something in me snapped. "Well, you know what, I made a mistake," I said. "I'm not the perfect little daughter that you thought I was. You never thought that I would do something like this, but face it, I had sex and I did it even before Alexa did."

"Lyla!" Alexa exclaimed in shock.

"I realize that I didn't make the best of choices and that I'm not in the best position to raise a child, but Remus and I love each other. We love each other and we love our child," I said, mainly just looking at my mother. "I'm having this baby, and there's nothing we can really do now to change that. I was just hoping that you guys would be here for me, to support me."

My mother just sat in her chair with her arms crossed and she was breathing heavily. She broke our eye contact and looked down at her lap. "Well, I'm sorry, but I don't support this," she said simply.

I stood up from my spot at the table and stepped around my chair, pushing it back in. "Well, then there's no reason for me to stay here," I responded.

"Lyla, you don't mean that," Remus said grabbing my arm as I began to walk away.

"Remus, please," I said quietly, as I fought back more tears. Remus nodded sadly and stood up to follow me. When we got to the door I paused for a moment. "And my child won't be a bastard," I said. "Remus and I plan on getting married. So, don't worry, you won't have to deal with having a bastard grandchild on top of having a disappointment of a daughter." I pushed open the door without another word and let it close behind me. Remus pulled me to him and the floodgates opened. "I'm so sorry, Remus," I sobbed.

Remus just held me tighter and kissed the top of my head. "Don't be sorry," he said into my hair. "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

From the kitchen I could hear a chair slid across the floor. "Don't you dare think that we're not going to talk about your actions, young lady," I heard my mom say.

"Yes, mother," Alexa replied. The door opened ever so slightly, and Alexa's slim figure slipped out.

We caught each other's eyes and we just looked at each other. Then I suddenly realized what I had done. "Oh, Alexa, I can't believe I said that, it just sort of slipped out," I said covering my mouth. "I never meant to bring you into this, or get you in trouble."

"Eh," she said shrugging her shoulders. "Don't worry about me, I'm used to mother's disapproving stare. Are you okay?"

I shook my head. "I can't stay here, Alexa," I told her. "I can't stay under the same roof as her."

"Lyla, she didn't mean any of those things she said," Alexa said in defense of our mother. "She was just angry. Under a cool head she would never say those things."

"No, she meant them, I know she did," I said sadly. "I can't blame her for being mad, but I can't be here." Alexa nodded her head, knowing that she wasn't going to change my mind.

"I'll go get our stuff," Remus said, releasing me from his hold. He disappeared up the dark stairs and Alexa took me into her arms.

"I don't want you to leave, but I'm not going to stop you," she said rubbing my back soothingly. "I love you Lyla and even though it may not seem like it now, Mom and Dad love you too."

"Nothing is how it's supposed to be," I said as my sister held me like a foolish child.

"Yeah, but since when has anything been how it was supposed to be?" she asked, posing an excellent question. "We should have learned by now that nothing goes according to plan." Remus reappeared, our bags in his hands.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" Remus asked me. I nodded my head in reassurance. "Okay."

Alexa gave me a big hug. "Owl me tomorrow," she told me. "I love you." I squeezed her and then let her go. Remus set the bags down and opened the front door of the house. I crossed over the threshold and Remus followed. I looked back at Alexa and then closed the door.

* * *

Prongslittleflower's Author's Note: Well, well, well. The shit just hit the industrial-sized fan at the end of the road, did it not? Anyways, I loved this chapter with the flame of one-thousand suns! And I'm writing the next chapter as fast and as best as I can. Also, I didn't post this chapter for forever because for a while there we were getting some pretty rude reviews. I get that in the beginning we weren't the best author's in the world but come on people! I think we've improved somewhat. And I get it, Lyla and Alexa were pretty static characters in the beginning, but I also think they've developed over the past 35 chapters. Anyways, that's my rant for the week. Sorry it took so long an thanks to all that have reviewed and stuck with us! You all are the best. And one last thing, I don't mind constructive criticism at all, just the reviews that are like 'you suck. come back when you have a life' or something like that. Again, thanks to those who help us grow! Sorry for this! (:

Love to all! And have a fantastic day!


	37. Take What You Want

Disclaimer: Yeah, we definitely don't own any of it. Not even the words because I didn't make them up. It's a sad existences ladies and gents.

Author's Note: Well, there really is no excuse for why this chapter took so long to put up. It's really just a combination of school ending, me being lazy, me being even more lazy, and then finally getting my ass in gear. So, here it is. More of a filler really, but it had to be done. Hope you all enjoy it and get a chuckle at parts and say 'aw' at others. Love you all and please, for a faster chapter next time, send us some inspirational words, favorite quotes from the chapter, or just things you liked in general. Or if you just want to drop by and say hi! Thanks! And here's chapter 37 for your viewing pleasure.

_Take What You Want…Because It Doesn't Belong to Me_

_Alexa's Point of View_

"What were you both _thinking_? Don't you know the repercussions of something like this?" I swallowed back tears as my mother paced angrily in front ofthe dining room table where I was seated next to Sirius. "After what happened to _her_ weren't you even the least bit cautious as to what happens when you have," She cut herself off, putting a hand up to her neck where she touched a very heavy pearl necklace like a lifeline.

Straightening up in his seat a little, Sirius opened his mouth to defend us while trying to still be respectful. I continued to sit quietly in my seat, preferring to remain silent and hopefully invisible for the rest of the two-hour conversation that we had been having. "Not to be disrespectful, Mr. and Mrs. Parker," He said while addressing my father who sat stoically and disapprovingly at the table across from me. As his intense disappointment met my eyes, I lowered them to my lap. "But Alexa and I have been extremely careful and while I understand that you are upset, we're not the ones that are having the baby."

I closed my eyes and wanted to smack him silly for bringing it up. Had he not heard how my mother had been calling Remus and Lyla (her own daughter, for Merlin's sake) _him_ and _her_ for the past three days that they had been gone? Did he think bringing that up was going to make our situation any better? As my mother's face morphed into that of extreme anger, disappointment, and despair, I grabbed Sirius's hand in my own for comfort and then stood from my seat.

"I know that you always wanted me to wait and that you probably didn't want me to even date until I was thirty, but what has happened has happened. Sirius is right though, Mama. I'm not pregnant. And we haven't even had sex," My father cringed at the word while I tried to persevere with the conversation, "In a long time. What we need to focus on is getting Lyla back. She's having your grandbaby and she needs us right now. All you've done is push her away."

"Don't you dare speak to your father and I that way, young lady. To your room, now." I bit my tongue to keep from saying anything as I saw the darkness leave my mother's face long enough to show her vulnerability and I tugged on Sirius's hand while trying to exit the room as swiftly as possible. We had just exited the doorway when my father's voice called out.

"Sirius, I'd like a word; in private." My head quickly snapped to meet Sirius's gaze and I gripped his hand tighter as he tried to pull away. Looking at me questioningly, I dropped his hand quickly and muttered a 'good luck' while hastening up the stairs to the loft. Turning back at the top of the stairs, I saw the door swing shut for the last time and heard the slow murmurs of my father's voice. Praying to the gods that Sirius would survive, I opened the latch to the loft and climbed the stairs.

Once I was in, Little Sirius attacked me at the ankles and his incessant meows begged that I pick him up. As I gathered him in my arms, Blair and James turned their attention towards me with questioning eyes. "Well? Care to tell us what your parents did, now? You're about as white as a ghost." James said with a slightly irritated voice. It had been Lyla's idea as she left that night to not tell Blair and James exactly what had happened when Remus had burst into the room and began to pack their things haphazardly. I, begrudgingly, had complied, but now it was time for the truth.

"Lyla and Remus didn't just go to tell his parents did they, Alex?" Blair asked knowingly while fidgeting on her bed and pulling her ponytail holder out to re-fix her hair. James, who was sitting next to the nervous brunette, put his arm around her and peered at me questioningly. Holding Little Sirius in my arms, I shook my head silently without looking at my friends. This was hard enough on me as it were with my family members starting to ask questions as to why there were secret meetings going on at night between my parents, and then with Sirius and I.

Sighing, I put the little black and white fluff ball on my bed before climbing up myself. "Lyla and Remus left to stay with Remus's parents for the rest of break. They had a huge fight with my mother and she's not speaking to them." Feeling tears well in my eyes, I took a deep breath and focused on not letting my emotions get the better of me as I had been trying to do for the past three days. "She basically told Lyla she wasn't her daughter anymore and that she didn't know who she was. Then she proceeded to say the baby was going to be a bastard child."

Blair gasped as I expected she would while James looked simply confused. "I don't understand; I mean I know your mom is upset and all, but I had always pegged her as the one that would be there for you all no matter what. Why is she being so unreasonable?" He asked while hinting at how my mother had been referring to Lyla and Remus without actually addressing them or mentioning their names. She had also taken to visibly flinching whenever they were mentioned in conversation.

"That's the real question though, isn't it?" A voice asked from the doorway and we turned our attention to Sirius as he shut the door softly behind him. Little Sirius bounded out of my arms and began his incessant meowing again as he ran circles around Sirius's legs before he picked up his namesake and cuddled him adorably. I mean, well, whatever.

"By the look of your features you haven't been mauled. What did my father have to say to you?" I asked him as he took a seat on one of the many mattresses that had been placed in our room for the holidays. The tension was thick as he hesitated between sitting next to me and the floor before he sat, however, and I once again averted my eyes to one of the many pictures Claire had drawn for us in the few days we'd been on break.

Clearing his throat and falling on his back, Sirius held my cat in one hand while lifting him in the air and slightly bouncing him. Little Sirius looked pleased by this and meowed contentedly while the three of us did a simultaneous eye roll. "Yeah, it was awkward to say the least, but other than emotional pain and suffering, I'm fine. We actually talked about Lyla and Remus." At my disbelieving look, he rolled his slate gray eyes and a hint of a smirk pulled at his lips. I could feel my resolve weakening. "Okay, well he only threatened me once or twice; that's not too bad though, right?"

"Pads, you deflowered Gary Parker's little princess. I think that as long as you're standing there and your balls aren't being made into mid-afternoon snacks you're doing quite well!" James said with a laugh and despite his terminology, I couldn't help but agree. Dad must have realized that while I may have been growing up despite how much he wished I wouldn't, I hadn't actually done anything wrong.

Blair laughed as well, but was looking at Sirius with a devilish smile. "Oh, I don't think it's Gary that Sirius has to worry about. Just wait until all her uncles catch wind of what happened. They'll be on Sirius faster than you can say 'stupefy' and I doubt they'll be so understanding."

"Especially since Sirius will be the only one here to interrogate!" I added in with a laugh, climbing down to the end of my bed and lying on my stomach with my elbows propped and my chin in my hand. "Since Remus won't be here to lessen the blow, they'll be playing you like a witch in the Spanish Inquisition."

Sighing, Sirius put the cat down to scamper off to play under the beds and placed his hands over his face. "Thank you for your kind words of encouragement. Now do you want to know what we talked about or are you going to continue to take the Mickey out of me?" He asked with a slightly irritated voice and I wanted nothing more to go and console him in that moment. However, I stayed where I was and let my fingers instead twirl a piece of my own blonde hair that had fallen out of place as I rolled around in my bed to get comfortable.

"Of course, Sirius, go ahead and continue." Blair uttered with a yawn while sinking back into James, who immediately pulled her closer to him.

"Alright, well, first I went back into the kitchen where Evon was storming around making stuff for dinner tonight. Your dad pulled me out back where I thought I was done for. Did you know that he could be a very forceful man? I thought my arm was going to be ripped from its socket," Sirius directed his question towards me where I tried my best to convey my thoughts about how he was an idiot without actually saying it. Rubbing his shoulder slightly he continued with his tale. "Anyways, and then he was like, 'I don't really appreciate the fact that you and my daughter are having sex but as long as you are careful we have no issue here.' I tried to be polite and agree with him, but it was totally awkward."

"Did you go on to tell him that we are no longer having sex and will not be doing so in the foreseeable future?" I asked Sirius as he grimaced while reliving the conversation with my father. Turning their attention towards me, I felt Blair's questioning eyes and tried to focus my expression into one of utter relaxation. I wasn't sure if it was working or not and I'm positive it failed when Sirius turned his gaze towards me.

The way his shirt was riding up from where he had been laying down, the fact that his recent haircut had made his eyes stand out more, and the fact that he was standing up for our no longer existing relationship was making it hard though. "Well, no, I mean I figured telling your dad that we had sex and we broke up all in one day would have been enough for him to really kill me without question or thought to how you would feel. Literally, I think he's sparing me because he doesn't want to hurt your feelings."

"Alright, this could all very well be true, but I don't see what it has to do with Remus and Lyla," James cut in while Sirius and I stared at each other for quite a few moments. Snapping out of it, Sirius fell back down into his spread eagle position and put a forearm over his eyes dramatically.

"Of course, Prongs, I'm getting there!" He muttered with despair. With that lightening of the mood, the moment was broken and we all sat in silence and contemplation as Sirius continued. "So then he asks me about if I've heard from Lyla and I said no because they've only been gone a few days and I'm sure they've been busy. Then, very secretively, he pulls out this and tells me to take it over later tonight." Pulling out a piece of cloth tied with a delicate baby-blue string, Sirius held up what I recognized to be a handkerchief full of coins.

"Dad's giving them money?" I asked out loud, endless possibilities of why he would be giving them a pretty grand sum of coins. Sirius nodded his head and then tossed the bag up onto the bed to me. "Said that while he knew Poppy was an excellent nurse, they needed to see a real doctor at St. Mungo's to make sure everything was coming along in the proper way."

"So he's not really mad then? I mean, if he's giving them money then they can't be too far down on his bad list." James asked out loud as we all contemplated on what this would really mean. I was about to answer him, to tell him that there was something wrong here and that if my father was doing this behind my mother's back then things must not have been okay, but at that moment, Claire and Eleanor came running into the room while Eleanor continued to pull at a shrieking Claire's pigtails.

As Little Sirius came out of his hiding place to explore what was going on, Claire broke away from Eleanor's teasing to bother the cat and being the astute girl that she was, Eleanor took immediate notice of our intense conversation. "What's going on here? Are Remus and Lyla back yet? Why are you on my bed, Sirius? James and Blair, did you know that if you are active in a relationship that the other is less likely to cheat? Once again, what is going on here?"

Trying not to roll my eyes, I ignored my cousin and flopped onto my back while glaring and sighing at the ceiling. James let out a startled 'eep' while Sirius shuffled around on the floor to get off of Eleanor's 'bed,' and went to join Claire on the floor trying to lure Little Sirius out of his hide-out under Lyla's bed. Suddenly, however, my vision was blocked by Blair's face.

"You want to talk?" She asked simply and I agreed quickly. After she left my line of vision, I got up from my bed and tried to smooth down the wreck that my hair had become. Taking a look around the room, I saw James lying facedown in Blair's pillows, his glasses hanging from his hand limply as he dozed off. Eleanor was sitting on her bed, holding a book so close to her nose that her glasses were rolling towards the page. Blair was standing in the mirror, pulling at her eyes as if she was trying to measure how big she could make them. Claire was calling for Little Sirius with her little girl voice.

That left Sirius; who I found sitting cross-legged on the floor next to Cee, but his attention was focused on me. Feeling startled for a moment, I made eye contact, before jumping up off my seat and making my way towards Blair. Taking her by the arm, I pulled her towards the door and together we made our way quietly down the stairs and out into the hallway where the guest rooms were located.

"Where's the fire, Alex?" She laughed as we found an empty room, what looked to be my cousin Xavier's room that he was sharing with the twins, and closed the door soundly. Taking a look around to make sure no one was in here and to make sure nothing was going to jump out at us, I sighed while taking a seat on the bed. "Something's up, Blair, and I really want to get to the bottom of it. Lyla and Remus haven't come back; my parents aren't agreeing on things; and I know that this can't just be over Lyla getting pregnant. I mean, stuff like that happens all the time, but this seems so different."

"I can understand the fact that you're worried about this, Alex, but really what do you expect that you can do right now? It's not like you're going to be able to get Lyla back into your parent's good graces." Blair said while making herself comfortable next to me.

I sighed and lay back against the fluffy pillows. "Maybe; maybe not; but I have to try. I can't just leave Lyla and Remus to go through this on their own. They have us but we're just kids. How are we supposed to help them if we can't even take care of ourselves yet?" I asked while trying not to freak out even more than I already was. Blair fell back against the bed with me as well and grabbed my hand comfortingly. It was only then that I realized how scared we both were for Lyla and Remus.

"I can't promise you that everything will be okay, Alex, but I can tell you that together, we'll all figure it out. And it may not have to be just us. We may have Remus's parents on our side. We don't know yet what's going on. What we really need to do is talk to Lyla and Remus." Blair said and we sat in silence for a few moments before there was a knock on the door. Slowly, as the knob twisted and James's mop of a head peered through, I tried to wipe my tears away inconspicuously.

The gleam in his eyes was enough for me to know that something big was about to happen. And knowing James, it was going to be good. "Get up, Mopeys, we've got to go down to dinner. And then afterwards," He smiled at me directly, "We're sneaking out to see Lyla and Remus."

Bounding off the bed, I shimmied past James and made my way towards the stairs where Sirius waited patiently for all of us. His black t-shirt was slightly rumpled from rolling around on the ground with Cee and I smiled at him before he motioned me ahead of him. Peering at him inquisitively, he shrugged while shoving his free hand into his pocket. I tried not to focus on the way the light reflected behind him, his dark hair wavy and tousled.

"I figured it'd be good to have a buffer between your mother and me." He smiled, his teeth making an appearance for a few seconds and I nodded quickly before going on ahead of him. The sounds of my family from the other room were light and cheery, the occasional shout as everyone settled in being heard through the swinging door. Xavier and Matt ran past, pushing me slightly off-balance as my friends came up behind me. Together we looked through the door, as it swung open slightly to reveal glimpses of the family.

I was taken off guard while looking in when Uncle Scott came up behind us. Putting a hand on Blair's shoulder, he laughed when we all jumped. "You four look like you're keeping a secret." He said with a laugh before we all stuttered something out and then he hustled us into the kitchen for some food. The mood slowly dissipated as my mother saw us enter and immediately slammed a pot onto the table. As we took our seats, the family all feathered off into awkward silences with bursts of random conversation as my father took his seat. Sensing the tension, James smiled charmingly.

"So, anybody want to know the name of Dumbledore's first pet?"

Page Break

"I will never apparate again," Blair said as we came out of the playground that was located across from Remus's neighborhood. Taking the surrounding muggle school and shops, we smiled at a few passerby's as we tried to all act casual. James laughed while putting his arm around Blair's shoulders and led her ahead. Sirius hung back with me as I tried to get my footing back after soaring through space with my body compressed into tiny pieces.

"You okay? It was my first time apparating more than one person." Sirius seemed to question me as we continued behind at a more leisurely pace. I tried a nod and then realized how stupid I looked because he wasn't even watching me.

Sighing, I patted his arm slightly as I walked. "I'm fine, Sirius. Besides, I'm sure you've been apparating long before you turned seventeen." He laughed slightly and looked at me through lowered lashes and I looked away quickly, stopping slightly to look inside a shop on the side street. As it was slightly past ten o'clock at night, the shop was closed, but the lights in the back lit up the inside enough to show me that it was an art store.

Remus seemed to live in a pretty fancy muggle neighborhood; housing a school, playground, market, and many other shops for things you could ever need, plus a diner for afterschool treats, the neighborhood looked like a small town within London itself. I tried not to focus too much on the way that Sirius was standing close to me to either make sure I didn't get lost or to make sure I was safe from any night crawlers, I wasn't sure nor was I strong enough to ask.

Seeing Blair and James enter a fence up ahead, I looked at the cottage-like house that was standing before us. It looked like something out of a movie with its white picket fence, shuttered windows, and big front door and I wrapped my jacket a little snugger around myself in the early April chill. It was a happy home that had known more heartache and grief than it should have; first with Remus's condition and now with an unexpected, unplanned teen pregnancy.

I sighed while Blair raised her hand and knocked soundly on the door. We stood on the porch, the swing making a somewhat eerie sound in the night as it swung by itself from the wind. There were footsteps, a laugh, and then the door was pulled back wide to show a woman that looked to be in her forties. She smiled wide and immediately opened her arms for Sirius and James.

"Well, if it isn't the other two lost boys!" She called with a smile and I exchanged a look with Blair at the Peter Pan reference and the way she left out the idea of Peter being part of the troop. Stepping out of her embrace, James and Sirius walked indoors, where Remus and Lyla could be heard. "And you must be Blair and Alexa." She stated simply while gathering us into a crushing hug as well. Immediately I felt at home in this woman's arms.

Remus's mother was striking with her light and bouncy sandy blonde hair and deep azure eyes. I could tell that Remus was his mother's child and the quick and calculating way that she appraised us reaffirmed that suspicious for me. After ushering us inside, I smiled at seeing the pictures lining the wall of Remus as a child. Leading us towards the sitting room, Blair and I were immediately crushed as a small blurry brunette flung herself into our arms.

"It's so good to see you all! Three days has been entirely too long," Lyla said when we all broke for air. I nodded through my tears as I held onto my sister's hand. She looked happier than I had seen her in a long time and I took that as a good sign. Leading Blair and I to one of the loveseats, I accepted the cup of tea that Remus held out to me. Sitting between his father and James, he smiled at me quickly before making sure that Lyla was comfortable.

I smiled to myself when I saw them together. Knowing that she wasn't showing yet but that the baby was still going through one of the most important times of its development (yeah, I knew how to read every once in a while) struck me in that moment and I remembered why we were here. Looking towards Sirius who was sitting with his cup of tea on the floor next to the couch, I nodded towards him slightly trying to question him silently about the money that my father had given us. While it was nice to see my sister and her fiancé, I smiled when thinking that, we were really here to give them money.

Clearing my throat, I brought the family's attention to me. "Mr. Lupin, Mrs. Lupin, I just wanted to let you know that we're all very thankful for you taking Remus and Lyla in after everything that happened with our parents," I said while motioning between Lyla and I. Remus's parents smiled at me, obviously knowing that I had more to say. "And I understand that while my mother may be against everything that is happening here, my father actually has something for you all. He wants to help."

Lyla scoffed at this while Remus frowned. "If they care so much then why aren't they here? Why did they send you all instead of coming themselves?" Lyla asked while sitting up straighter and putting her hand on her lower stomach. Swallowing before I replied to what my sister had said, trying to think of something to say to her argument, when Sirius pulled the money out of his jacket pocket.

"He wants to come here, Lyla. Your mother wants to help her little girl through all of this, but it's complicated. It's too much for them right now." Handing the coins to Lyla, Sirius looked up at her unflinchingly while she looked between the money, Remus, and himself. "They want you to see a doctor. Gary said that he understands that Poppy is a good nurse as any but that he wants you to go to St. Mungo's just for a second look. They want you safe, Lyla. They want you and Remus to be happy and they want to be there for you."

Sensing the fact that we needed to sort this out, Remus's parents stood from their spots in the living room and nodded to all of us. "You kids take your time but you need your rest, Lyla." Sending her a look at this Lyla nodded and smiled while reaching up to hug Remus's mom. "Good night you all. Don't be strangers next time."

We said our good nights and as they left the room Blair opened up her mouth to speak. "Lyls, I know that it's not going to matter what we say. You're upset right now and I understand that. Please, though, think of the consequences of what this is doing to everyone. Alexa has to lie. The family is starting to ask questions. Your parents are fighting. Your grandma is coming over, and what is going to happen then?"

"Blair," James warned as Lyla tensed up and Remus moved to put a hand on her arm. Sirius and I watched as the scene unfolded in front of us. "No, James, I'm not going to sit back any more. This is crap. Lyla, I understand that this sucks. Truth is, however, you're being selfish. Remus is being turned against your parents. You're being turned against your parents."

"I'm trying, Blair, alright!" Lyla burst out, standing from her position on the couch. "I understand that the position I put you all in wasn't fair. What else am I supposed to do though? Am I supposed to let my parents walk all over me? To tell me that the way I'm living my life is completely wrong? That I'm fucking this kid up so bad that they're going to have no chance in the end?"

"Lyla, she's upset. We're all just riding nerves from the past few days." James said trying to placate the situation. The tears in Lyla's eyes were threatening to fall free when I stood up from my spot.

Putting my hand on Lyla's shoulder, I squeezed just slightly. "Maybe we should just go," I stated while trailing off. Sirius made to stand but was stilled by a look from Remus. "Or we could just talk about something else," I offered as well trying to placate Lyla who was looking like she was about to run to her room and sob for a few minutes. She let out a small heave and I sighed mentally. Or maybe a few hours.

As we all took our seats, an awkward silence fell over the living room. Lyla's breathing finally evened back out as we sat and I saw from the corner of my eye where James and Blair were holding hands tightly as we all watched different spots in the room. When it became silent enough for the clock to tick louder than our breathing Sirius cleared his throat unnecessarily. "So, how's everyone doing?" He asked stupidly. I tried and failed to not roll my eyes at his dumb ass comment.

After the stupidity that left my ex-boyfriend's mouth, we all decided that it was probably time to head out. As we took our dishes back to the kitchen, I pulled Lyla aside to talk to her. "Lyls, I'm really sorry about all of this. Take all the time you need but promise me that you'll try to make it to Easter. Gran isn't stupid; she'll ask more questions than the rest of the family ever would."

"I'll try, Alexa, but I can't make you any promises." Lyla said as we hugged goodbye. As I shrugged back into my jacket, we all made our way back to the backyard. Grabbing Sirius's hand, I nodded my head to Remus and Lyla as Blair grabbed my other hand and James hers. Right before we left, Remus raised a hand to us. "We'll be at Easter. Tell your father thank you for the money. We'll send an owl tomorrow after we get back from St. Mungos."

Nodding in understanding and waving goodbye slightly, I felt my body convulse as we went flying through space and back to my house. The chill that went through me after we landed had nothing to do with the midnight air or the fact that it was dark and somewhat scary on my street. Standing in front of us on the front porch looking like she was about to split someone open was my mother. Exchanging glances with Blair who was on my right. There was no way we could tell the truth and tell her that we had been to see Remus and Lyla. She would start to ask questions, figure out that Dad had given them money, and then shit would hit an industrial-sized fan at the Parker house.

Taking one for the team, I stepped up and walked to the front of our house where my mother was waiting. I opened my mouth to talk but was cut off before I had the chance. It seemed at is everyone was doing a lot of that lately. "Alexa Noel Parker, where in the world have you been?" Then acting like an escapee from the loony bin, she stepped right in front of me to lean in and smell me. Circling around me and towards Blair, James, and Sirius, she repeated the action before walking back to the front of the house. "You don't smell as if you've been drinking, however, this is no explanation. I'll ask the questions again; where have you been?"

"Well, it's like this," I started while thinking quickly and trying not to get my ass ripped in the process. So far on break I had shown up with new hair (that my mom hated), been outed for losing my virginity (which also pissed my mom off), and snuck out to see my sister who was basically kicked out. My track record just seemed to be getting better. "Blair and I wanted some Chinese food, so we got up to see if there was anything in the kitchen."

"Since there wasn't any I begged Alexa to take me down the street to the restaurant so we could grab some and come back," Blair added in.

"And Sirius and I woke up to find that they were gone so we went to investigate. They were leaving as we got downstairs," James started in as my mother narrowed her eyes and listened to all of us shrewdly.

"But I didn't want Alexa and Blair walking by themselves at night so I told James that we would escort them." Sirius said bringing up the tale to a conclusion. We stood in silence as the wind blew slightly and ruffled my hair around my face.

My mother cocked an eyebrow and put her hands on her hips. "Am I to believe that nothing else happened and that you went straight to get food, ate, and then came back here? There was no gallivanting around town or causing trouble or anything of the sort?" She was looking directly at me, knowing that I couldn't lie to her face. So, doing what I did best, I addressed the second question while being completely vague about all the other answers.

"Well, we did eat and no gallivanting or trouble took place, so I think it's safe to say that you are correct." I said while going over in my mind what she asked. We had eaten earlier that night, and we did go out and then came straight back, and no one was gallivanting around town at the time so omitting the fact that we took money to Lyla we had done exactly what she said. Looking back up to my mother, I noticed the held breaths of my friend as she scrutinized us and tried to tell if we were lying or not.

Finally after a few minutes of intense staring, she sighed and stood aside to let us in. "Straight to your rooms and I want no talking or anything to wake up the others. You are to go right to bed and will not be sneaking out again. Do I make myself clear?" She asked with a straight face and narrowed stare. We all nodded and then made our way quickly up the stairs. It was only once we got to the confines of my room that Sirius and James collapsed to the floor and let out heavy breaths.

"Damn, Alexa," Blair said while grabbing her pajamas and heading towards the bathroom. "That was freaking intense."

Page Break

"There is literally nothing to do around here," James complained two days later as the final preparations began for the dreaded Easter Dinner that was probably going to end up in total and complete shambles. Looking around the crowded kitchen at my aunts who were helping my mother, who was frantically running around and muttering under her breath about the disaster this was going to be, I rolled my eyes at him.

"You're right, James, because it's not like we're trying to get stuff done for the Easter dinner that could quite possibly ruin all of our lives and show my Grandmother and the Parker side that not only are we delinquent children, but the Golden Children of our group have gone and completely fucked up." I said while grabbing a carrot off of a flying vegetable platter that was on its way to the fridge. Taking her strict 'no magic' policy away for the past few days, our house had become a mess of flying food, tables and chairs, and a various amount of other objects. All in all, if I didn't get out of here soon someone was going to die.

Standing up from his seat at the counter folding napkins, James ruffled his hair while stretching his arms towards the ceiling. "That's not what I meant. I mean there's nothing fun to do around here. Don't get me wrong," He lowered his voice and Blair and I leaned in to hear him better while my mother waved a knife in frustration behind us. "I love folding fine linens as much as the next reasonably straight man, but after a while it gets a little treacherous to one's manhood."

Nodding appreciatively, I threw my folded napkin onto the pile while Blair looked around. "Speaking of manhood, where the hell is Sirius? He left to put that ladder away half an hour ago." She looked accusingly at the back door where he had disappeared out of a while ago with strict instructions that the ladder my mother had been using to touch up the paint on the ceiling (no one questioned her directly, but the looks were enough) and hadn't come back. I opened my mouth to tell her he had probably skipped out on us when through the swinging kitchen door he appeared briefly before grabbing James's arm and pulling him away.

The boy was out of sight with nothing more than a startled cry and Blair and I exchanged a look before abandoning our posts folding napkins and went through the doors after them. Passing my father and one of my numerous uncles in the living room, I ignored the lack of bustle and enthusiasm while trying to keep track of the mop of black hair in front of me. Swinging around the corner, I almost ran into the back of Tristan who was standing against the wall. Looking around at the gathering of children in the hall, I tried my best Lyla eyebrow raise, failed miserably, and settled on crossing my arms.

Seeing my look, Sirius smirked. "It's a rebellion. We can't stand in that kitchen doing manual labor anymore, Alex. The time has arisen to take our forces outside and wreak havoc on the quiet little neighborhood before your Gran gets here." James's face lit up and I looked out of the corner or my eye as Tristan rolled his eyes at the Marauder, but I couldn't mistake the look of adventure taking over my cousin's face.

"Whatever; what did you have in mind?" I shrugged and smiled when the younger cousins cheered lowly as to not alert anyone of our doings. "I'm not the good sister, you know! You don't have to act like so surprised that I said yes." I laughed.

Crossing his arms, Xavier looked at me skeptically. "Maybe so, but ever since Lyla and Remus went to stay at his house you've kind of assumed the role of Little Miss Perfect." Acting offended, I reached over and ruffled his perfectly mussed hair. He swatted at me in annoyance to which I promptly did it again. Stepping between us, Sirius put his arms out so we were forced to stop our tussle.

"Anyways, regardless of who did what or is acting like what, we need to execute this and get out of the house in a strategic way." He said conspiratorially. Rolling my eyes as they began to plan their escape, I nodded to Blair who had spent the whole conversation rolling her eyes over on the stairs.

Opening her mouth and cupping her hands over her mouth, she started her acting. "Gary! Evon! Xavier and Matthew are throwing dishes again!" As the twins' mouths dropped open, Blair smirked in their direction, payback for the skirt incident at Christmas, and smiled slightly as my mother came barreling out of the kitchen as my father came up behind me from the living room.

I jumped slightly as my mother brandished her wand and the screen door flew open. "OUT! All of you! Out!" My mother said while shooting sparks at the floor as my father ushered us out the doors quickly. "And do not come back in here until at least dinner time." She yelled as the door shut behind us.

"Aunt Evon is freaking terrifying when she gets stressed out," Lidia said as she ran a hand through her impeccable side ponytail and examined the split ends. Watching as she sidled up to Sirius, I took pride when he gave her a polite smile but put distance between them. Just because we broke up didn't mean I wanted my cousin getting all chummy with him.

"Anyways, what's the deal, Sirius?" James asked while pushing his glasses up his nose and looking around the neighborhood. It was a reasonably sunny day and most people were either on their porches or had their windows open. Nodding to my slightly batty older neighbor across the street, I turned back to Sirius who was explaining his grand master plan.

"I thought that because there are eleven of us," He looked at all of us quickly making sure he was doing the math right, "That we would split into teams of two and play a sort of hide and go seek with one person that isn't on a team being 'it.' And instead of it being the backyard, it should be the whole neighborhood. And, hell, we can have others join in if they want too."

"Don't say hell in front of Claire," I muttered to him as I put my hands on Claire's shoulders and squeezed as she giggled. "And that's all great, but how are we going to set up the teams fairly? And if the other neighborhood kids join how are we going to know?"

Blair crossed her arms while looking around at all of us. "What the shell is going to be base too?" Raising her eyebrow, she nudged James and Sirius who looked as if this was the greatest idea in the world. "And what are the limits to the neighborhood? It's not huge, sure, but it'll be hard to find everyone."

"Which is the point, Ms. Winchester." James said and then pulled what looked to be an official looking document from his seemingly never ending pockets. "Sirius, Remus, and I thought of this while we were here for Christmas. If it hadn't snowed we had to have something to get into. Of course, the teams will have to be modified because Brock is here and Lyla and Remus are not but," He bit his lip for a moment before pulling out a pen and making a few corrections. "There we are."

From between Xavier and Matt, who were looking between Sirius and James like they had just seen celebrities mingle with the commoners, Tristan looked slightly skeptical. "Look, I know that you boys are good at school with the pranks and what not, but are you sure you can pull off a neighborhood wide hide and go seek? No offense or anything, but this is the big leagues."

Exchanging a look between each other and then laughing, Sirius and James sobered up instantly and scarily at the same time. "Do not doubt a marauder." They said together. Then, brightening up, Sirius joined James to give out team members and explain the rules.

"Okay, basically it's a free for all, Tristan will be 'it' since he's the oldest." Once there was no objection James took over from where Sirius left off and they began to work in tandem. "The Parker yard is base but you are only allowed back to base after you have been off for an hour."

"Meaning that the game will be over after an hour and if you haven't been caught then you win."

"And no going inside houses."

"Climbing trees is acceptable."

"But somewhat frowned upon for the smaller ones."

"The teams will be Xavier and Lidia."

"Matthew and Eleanor."

"Brock and Blair."

"Alexa and Sirius."

"And James and Claire. Any questions?" Sirius asked as we all separated to get into our groups. Rolling my eyes and knowing that the groups were made before anything happened, I sucked in some air before going over to stand with Sirius. "Alright then, Tristan give us ten minutes to hide. No one leave the neighborhood limits. And on the count of three."

"One, two," James started and then without warning he picked up Claire who squealed excitedly. "THREE!"

Feeling my arm being ripped from my socket, I took off after Sirius trying to keep up with his long legs. Laughing despite myself as we all dispersed in random places and at seeing Eleanor almost face-plant into Matt, I forgot all my troubles as I followed Sirius blindly through the neighborhood I knew like the back of my hand. Thinking about it, it was probably fair that Lyla and I weren't both playing. It was never good to have two winners.

Swinging around a house that I recognized to be in the middle of the street about three rows over from my own house, Sirius and I stopped to catch our breath. "Do you have any idea where a good place to hide would be?" He asked straightening up slightly as two figures ran past our temporary hiding spot. We held our shaky breath as the footsteps died down. Racking my brain, I suddenly remembered the small hill that ran around the back of the neighborhood and would provide a slight covering.

"There's a hill, in the back of all the houses, that runs around the stretch of the neighborhood. The bottom has a creek that we used to play in, but not many people will remember it and I doubt Tristan will even look there." I said while Sirius nodded his head and peeked around the side of the house. Right as he went to step out, I grabbed his arm to prevent him. "We're going to have to navigate through some yards because the path is practically in the middle of the open areas."

"How badly do you want to win?" Sirius asked with the most dedicated and intense look I'd ever seen him done. He wasn't even this severe about Quidditch.

"Pretty bad, I mean it'd be great to beat James and outsmart Tristan." I said with a shrug. As his face darkened, I remembered something about what Lyla had said about being on his team for the snowball fight. "Really though, Sirius, it's just a game."

The outraged look on his face told me I should have thought twice before saying that to him. "Winning a challenge such as this is more than 'just a game.' You're working with a marauder, Alexa meaning we cannot lose. That would be such a blow to the name that it wouldn't even be real. It would blaspheme all the things that our forefathers have worked for. Losing as a marauder is pretty much the equivalent of spitting in the Queen's face."

"That's kind of extreme, don't you think?" I asked as I stared at him like he was a crazy person, which admittedly he probably was.

"Extreme would be losing! James was sneaky putting me with another Parker sister and taking Claire for himself. She can't question everything he does." At my indignant huff, he rolled his eyes. "But it's unimportant! We're losing precious seconds here. Tristan could be on our trail right now. Let's go. We'll sort out your dedication issues later." Holding out his arm like he was back in the Golden Ages, he smiled tightly at me. "Lead the way."

Rolling my eyes, I started walking as stealthily as I could through the back yards of several of my neighbors, not only to appease Sirius but to make sure they couldn't alert Tristan to our presence by calling us out. After a few close calls with Matt and Eleanor, and then an almost run in with a barbecue in the back yard of a semi-young couple that was decent enough not to out us, Sirius and I finally reached the outskirts of the neighborhood. "And you're sure that we won't get busted for cheating or something of the sort because it seems like we're breaking the rule of not leaving the neighborhood." He asked while climbing the wall next to me.

Looking over my shoulder to make sure no one had seen us, I covertly pushed Sirius with my free arm. "For someone who wants to win and is such an 'expert' at it, you really are failing in the stealth department." I muttered as we heaved ourselves over the wall and dropped down to the ground below. While the wall was about 8 feet tall, the ground on the other side, the clear outskirts of the neighborhood and the beginning of the next one, had a much lower incline that held it a small creek that was actually kind of pretty.

The shade from the trees added a slight coolness to the area and it suddenly struck me with just how romantic this little hideaway could be. Frowning slightly, I walked myself over to the creek bed and sat on an overturned rock. Hearing Sirius sigh from behind me, it wasn't too surprising when he took a seat next to me. Pushing the sleeves up on his long-sleeved shirt, he checked the watch on his left wrist and shook his long and shaggy hair out of his eyes.

"We have about thirty minutes until it's time to head back to base and finish the game." He said while staring at the slowly running water in front of us. The tadpoles that had just started to migrate from their little eggs swam rapidly in the creek and we sat in a slightly odd silence while we pretended to ignore each other. I couldn't, however, ignore the way that every time he moved even a muscle I knew what he was doing. Sighing and running a hand through my blonde bob, I blew air into my bangs making them flutter before turning towards him.

"Sirius, I'm so tired of us running circles around each other and watching what we say." I finally whispered as he turned his gaze towards me. Waiting in anticipation, I tried not to be disappointed as he looked back to the creek. Dipping his hand in, he spoke to the water but the words were for me.

"We fucked up, Alexa. There's really nothing that we can say after that. I mean, what I did was wrong and you know that I'm sorry for it. But honestly there's nothing we can do right now that would fix it." Turning to face me, he gave me a sad smile. "I think it's time that we both come to terms with the fact that no matter how we may fight it, we're just not meant to be together."

What he said made sense; it had been running through my mind for as long as I could even fathom the thought of Sirius and I together, but there was just something about the way he said, like he was dethatched from the situation and no longer cared, that hurt something inside my chest. Feeling like I was about to throw-up, I turned back towards the creek to avoid his stare.

"So, what are we supposed to do now? Go back to acting like things were before we got together? Because, Sirius, I'm not sure if I can be just friends with you. It hurts too much," I said the last part in a whisper but with his Animagus hearing I knew that he would understand me. "With us, it's pretty much friends, lovers, or nothing."

Sighing, he ran a hand over his face before digging his free hand into his jet-black locks. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes instead of looking where I desperately needed him to look: at me. "Then I guess it's nothing." Feeling my throat close up, I turned almost completely towards him, not believing what I was hearing.

"Do you really mean that, Sirius? I mean really, really mean that because if you do then we end it all and leave it all here, end of story." I was begging him and I knew that. I also knew that we needed to end it all in this moment because it was so hard to be with him. But I also knew that if he said anything but the words that he still loved me, my heart was going to break into a million tiny pieces and I wasn't going to be able to deal.

Holding my breath, I watched as he finally turned towards me and looked me straight in the eyes. "Alexa," He said and I looked at him trying not to blink or miss a second of it all. "I mean it."

The world didn't stop turning. The sun didn't turn into ash and fall from the sky. The creek water didn't stop churning and the birds didn't stop chirping. My heart didn't stop beating, nor did my body stop craving oxygen as I breathed in and out with a constant, if not somewhat staggered, rhythm.

But as I sat there it felt as if my world had stopped. As if my sun had fallen. Like everything in the world had gone dark in that very moment. And when Sirius turned to stop looking at me and to glance down at his watch, I knew that somehow, this crazy ride had just ended. And instead of being ready for it, my heart was still on the last loop waiting to come down.

Only this time, it was going to be crashing by itself.

The next few minutes passed in a hollow blur. We climbed back over the wall and I assumed my duties as guide back to the house. Stealthily, we reached the yard without any interference and took Tristan by surprise as Sirius slipped back into his charismatic self. I smiled while the others congratulated us and when we went in for dinner; I made an excuse about not feeling well and left for my room to take a shower. Blair was hot on my heels, but upon seeing the look on my face, she gave me a hug, patted me on the back, and told me to owl Lyla.

Not giving her an answer, I turned and walked the rest of the way to my room, grabbing my robe and a towel before sneaking back downstairs to the basement bathroom that housed the walk-in shower and would steam up quickly and without interruption. Flipping on the water, I threw some of the bath supplies I kept stocked in the basement closet into the bathroom before locking the door and quickly pulling off my clothes.

Stepping into the spray, I allowed myself to blink into the incoming barrage of water. This way, if I did eventually cry, I could tell myself it was just the water washing the tracks of my tears away. After I decided that I had had enough and would look like a drowned cat for at least a week, I shut off the water, toweled off quickly, and wrapped my hair in a towel and my body in a robe. Then I made my way up to my room leaving my clothes and shower gear behind while dodging the rest of the family.

Once there, I changed into my pajamas, towel dried my hair, and slipped under the covers to forget the whole day. It was only then that I realized that hell had only thus begun; tomorrow was Easter day.

Page Break

"Hurry, hurry! The door, Alexa. Gary, fix your tie, please." My mother hovered around the entranceway as my Gran and Aunt Suzi made their way up our short driveway. Steeling my breath, I opened our glass door with a painted smile on my made-up face that did almost nothing to hide the dark circles under my eyes. As the door opened, the wind rushed in to ruffle my high-waisted green skirt.

"Darling!" Gran cooed as she shoved her purse and jacket into my father's arms while pulling me in for a crushing hug. "My, my how you've grown into a stunning young lady." Holding me at arms length, she took in my yellow sweater, green skirt, and plaid converse with a smile. Her fingers ghosted over my curly blonde locks before settling back on my upper arms. "Now, where is your sister?"

"Uh, well, she's going to be here in a few minutes. She just went over to her boyfriend's to pick him up for dinner later." I said and my Gran ghosted past me while venturing deeper into the house. "Hey, Suzi," I said with a slight grimace. She nodded back at me with disdain before following my Gran who had successfully already pissed my mother off somehow.

Looking over to my father, who was scowling over the obnoxious red trench and furry purse of my Grandmother's, we exchanged a horrified shudder. "Follow them. Lord knows what she'll do when she sees Sirius and James." Shaking my head in agreement, I followed after my family, meeting them in the kitchen where Blair, who was coifed and done-up for the occasion, was talking to Gran animatedly as James tried unsuccessfully to mat his hair down by the sink. Sirius, who looked like he'd been socked in the stomach, was standing next to James and looking at his eyes in the window's reflection.

Blair excused herself from Gran who smiled happily and followed my astonished looking mother into the living room to meet the rest of the family. "She sure is a character, your Gran." Blair said while taking over for James and raking her fingers through his wet, ebony locks. Styling them into some sort of spiky array, she continued to talk. "The first thing she says when she comes in is that James looks like he's stuck his hand into an electrical socket while showering and that Sirius has eyeliner on. Thanks for the tips on her favorite color being orange, Alex, because she told me I had divine taste in jewelry."

For the first time I smiled without forcing myself to as I noticed Blair's hair barrette and necklace. Matching nicely with the tan she had gotten from playing outside in the hide and go seek game yesterday, her brown hair was straightened to perfection and lay over one shoulder while her blue dress complimented her skin-tone. "Well done on impressing Gran Hennley. It's a tough thing to do and only the best survive."

"I thought I had it under control, but she just walked in and attacked us like it was an unconscious thing. Like insulting us was as easy as breathing for her." James said while rolling the sleeves on his grey button down up. Patting him on the shoulder, Blair led him into the living room leaving Sirius and I standing awkwardly in the kitchen. Giving him a polite nod, he held his arm out for me to go in front of him and I did so without looking him directly in the eyes or speaking.

Letting out my held breath, I laughed as I saw Xavier who had Claire by the collar dig himself into a deeper hole as Gran lectured him on how to treat a lady and Suzi sat primly on the couch being brain assaulted by Eleanor. Sidling up to me, Scott lowered his voice so as not to be heard. "That woman is a piece of work." He muttered and I elbowed my favorite uncle in the ribs slightly.

"She can hear a pen drop in an airport." I whispered, only after realizing that he had no clue what an airport was. I was saved the pain of elaborating for him by the doorbell ringing. "That must be Lyla!" I said while ignoring the looks that my family was giving me and taking off towards the door like I had just been lit on fire. Throwing it open, I looked at my sister happily. "Why the hell did you ring the doorbell to your own house?"

Pulling me into a hug, she laughed while taking her white jacket off to show her flowing cream-colored dress. With a start I realized that she was wearing her engagement ring. "I figured someone would want to get away from Gran and Suzi." She laughed and I rolled my eyes while letting her pass and giving Remus, who was looking very dapper in his dark jeans and coral button down, a brotherly hug.

"Pretty balsy, don't you think, Lyls?" I asked while nodding pointedly towards her ring and smirking. Twirling the diamond around on her finger and allowing Remus to wrap his arm around her waist she shrugged.

"I figured no one will question it until I tell them what it really is and that Mom and Dad already know so why hide it?" Nodding, I led them into the living room to see everyone.

"Fair point. Everyone, Lyla and Remus are here."

In quick succession three things happened; my mother zeroed in on Lyla's ring, Claire let out a high-pitched scream as Matt pulled her pigtails, and my Gran dropped in a dead faint.

After the flurry of movement that followed, picking up Gran and taking her to the cleanest guest bedroom to recover, Lyla and I exchanged a short look at what had just happened. "No way she knows, right? I mean I'm not even showing and even if I was Mrs. Lupin said that this dress did wonders at hiding any bumps that may be seen." Lyla worried as we stood outside of Gran's room as Suzi and my mother brought her around.

"No way. She doesn't know. She can't know." Pausing I looked at the closed door and then frowned. "Oh my god, she knows." I whispered frantically. While Lyla and I secretly freaked out, my mother popped her head out the door and looked at us.

"Gran wants to see you two." She said as she and Suzi stepped out of the room. Motioning for Lyla to walk in, she shook her head frantically and pushed me towards the door. "After all I've done for you step up and take one for the team, Alex. Be the older sister for once. I can't do this! I'm stressing out!"

Nodding my head, I waited for Lyla to relax before grabbing her arm and shoving her into the room ahead of me. She went flying forward and I felt some pride before realizing I had just thrown a pregnant woman. Whoops. Following after my sister, I shut the door behind us and sat at the end of my grandmother's bed whilst tucking my legs underneath me. Lyla sat next to me the same way and we both stared at Gran, who was seated up at the front of the headboard. Sneaking a peek at Lyla out of the corner of my eyes, I noticed that she looked like she was sitting in a line-up in an old mobster movie. I hoped I didn't look the same way.

"When are you due?" Gran asked while looking pointedly at Lyla and making clear by the tone of her voice that she knew and was not leaving any room for questioning. Sighing and tightening her hands around the duvet, Lyla blinked her eyes and muttered, "Around November."

Then, without warning, Gran burst into tears and scooped Lyla up into her arms. Looking at the two crying women, one at the end of her long life and the other just beginning, I held my spot until what seemed like forever and the tears stopped. "Oh, Lyla, I knew that something was wrong the moment I walked in the doors and you weren't there. And then when you walked in the living room," She paused for a moment and wiped her eyes before continuing. "You're glowing, dear. Not showing anywhere yet but you look as if you've been in the sun for the past few weeks."

"I didn't think anyone could tell." Lyla said by way of explanation and I sat awkwardly as they shared a special bonding moment.

"The ring also tipped me off. You are smart to get married but I need to tell you something before you all," Here she looked at me and I understood her point. We would all be helping to raise this child, without a doubt. "Take on this responsibility. Your mother and I briefly discussed this and while she doesn't feel as if it's the right time, I think that you need to be aware of this sooner rather than later."

"What are you talking about, Gran? Other than my parents not really supporting Lyla through any of this I'm not sure what they could have to do with her being pregnant." I said as gently as I could while scooting closer.

"There are things about your mother that you don't know the full story about. There's also a reason why your mother and I no longer get along. When she was about seventeen, very close to Lyla's age now, she met a man also known as your father. Gary Parker was charismatic, sweet as sugar, and ambitious. But he was young and naïve and when he came to me to ask to marry your mother, I didn't know what to say. I didn't know if he could support her. Then your mother came to me with news.

"She was three months pregnant and was dropping her last year of finishing school to marry your father and move away. I was devastated. Everything we had done, worked for, was being thrown away because she made a rash decision and no longer was thinking about herself or her own future." Lyla and I sat with wide eyes, my mind racing a mile a minute trying to comprehend what my Grandmother was saying. "I was also furious with her. Not only was she throwing away her future but she was underage, and being so young without a house or money, she was also throwing away her future child's future."

Lyla took a breath before pausing and then speaking. "I didn't know. We never realized but now it all makes sense." Gran patted her hand before continuing.

"We fought, and not a squabble that we so often get into but a full-blown fight. I wanted her to stay home, give her child up for adoption to parents that would be better suited to take care of a child, or to even let me help raise them. But she refused saying she wasn't a child and that she was capable of providing for another human being. Your father came that night to pick her up and by the next day she was gone. I didn't hear from her until around a month or two later when your father called to tell me the news that she had given birth to a premature baby and due to complications the child hadn't made it." Gran's words stuttered before she paused to take a breath.

By now I could feel the tears beginning in my eyes and Lyla and I exchanged a charged look. Our mother had gone through the same thing as Lyla and Remus, except my parent's had lost their first baby. I had a sister or a brother out there that had died before it had gotten to know the world. "What happened, Gran, to my mom and dad after that?" I asked while picking at the bed sheets.

"Your mother blamed me for a long time. We didn't speak and they moved away to Scotland for a while. Then around the time Lyla was born they moved back to England to send her to school. Our relationship was never the same. But I'm telling you all this because I don't want you to make the same mistake as I did, Lyla. You can't just walk away and you can't let your mother influence you." Gran said while holding onto Lyla's arm. "You have to work through it and come out stronger because she's going to need you and you're going to need her. Do you understand?"

Lyla nodded yes, unable to speak through the tears coming down her face. "And Alexa you need to be the middle ground. Do what you can to keep the peace when it becomes too much. Be the older sister when Lyla needs you and a confidant for your mother." I nodded as well and we sat in silence for a moment before Gran collected herself. "Now we need to buck up and go downstairs. We have things to sort out and things to get done."

With that she bustled out the door and left Lyla and I to sit together. We weren't alone long, however, until James, Sirius, Blair, and Remus bounded through the door. "Your Gran said we were needed." Blair said while pulling Lyla into a hug. I let James put his arm around me as we retold what my Grandmother had told us. As I heard it a second time, a new appreciation for my mother and father welled inside of me.

Standing up quickly, Lyla brushed off Blair while grabbing Remus's hand. "We have something to do." Rushing out the door, we all followed quickly as she made her way into the kitchen where my family was just getting ready to sit down to dinner. "Everyone, Remus and I are having a baby." Never one for subtlety, we sat in silence before my Gran smiled and took my mother's hand.

And then, all hell broke loose.

* * *

AmuletGirl A/N: Well fabulous people, wasn't that just great? I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Now, we were planning to get more chapters written over our break, but that didn't go as planned for various reasons. Anyways, this chapter is out for you lovely people to enjoy and we will try to get the next chapter out soon. Hope you all had a Happy Christmas and a fabulous New Year! Oh, and don't forget to REVIEW! Love and Peace to you all


	38. Move Like You're Going To Die

Disclaimer: As per usual, we don't own the stuff that you recognize except for the characters that you know are ours. Wait, I'm confused. Never mind, we just don't own what J.K. owns.

Amulet Girl's Note of the Utmost Importance: AN: Greetings good people of Harry Potter Fanfiction! I hope all is well with you all and I hope you enjoy this chapter that I have worked so hard on. I sincerely apologize for the extremely long wait but I finally got it done and up for you lovely people to read. So read and enjoy! Cheers! Also, the title of the chapter is a song by the amazing band Cobra Starship, it doesn't fit exactly, but the title fits a certain part of the chapter and really the character's lives right now. Again, enjoy.

_Chapter 38:_

_Move Like You're Going to Die_

Telling my entire family that I was having a baby right as we sat down for Easter dinner was probably not the best time to do so, but really, when is a good time to say these sorts of things. Awkward doesn't even begin to cover the atmosphere around the table. Gran smiled at me, Mom looked mortified, Dad carefully watched my mother, Aunt Suzi had this look of strange satisfaction that her sister's kid screwed up so badly, most of the cousins couldn't really make heads or tails of the situation, and my dad's brothers and sisters sat quietly avoiding eye contact with anyone. Uncle Scott was the only one who was brave enough to speak. "Things could be a lot worse," he had murmured giving Remus and me a nod. "For instance, Gary could have made this entire meal, which looks lovely by the way. Ham anyone?"

After Uncle Scott broke the ice, the tension eased a bit and we were able to have a nice dinner. Nobody mentioned my announcement again while we ate, but afterwards was when all the talking happened. I sat down with my gran and mother and we hashed out all of our problems. There were tears, laughter, yelling, sadness, joy; any emotion you can think of, we felt it. My mother had apologized for the things she had said the night I had told her and explained to me why she was so upset. She told me that she was mostly scared that I would go through the same thing she went through and she never wanted me to hurt the way she did when she lost her first child. And when I left, she felt like she had abandoned me; like Gran had felt when Mum left home. Most of all, she was mad because she felt like she had failed herself. She admitted that she was stupid to have gotten pregnant so young and to have dropped out of school and she wanted better for her children. It put her somewhat at ease when I informed her that I planned to stay in school and finish my education. I could tell she was still somewhat upset about the whole situation, but I couldn't blame her.

The rest of the family took it better than I had thought. It was a kind of confused happiness, but it was happiness nonetheless. The cousins that were at Hogwarts were sworn to secrecy and were threatened by their parents to keep their mouths closed. Uncle Scott offered to help me with anything I needed and Dad gave Remus and I his official blessing; which meant the world to me. Things were finally looking up, just in time to go back to school.

We were all heading back to Hogwarts in a matter of hours and not one of us had packed a thing. Earlier that morning we all said our goodbyes to the Parkers and the house suddenly felt so much larger. Blair, Alexa and I headed up to our room and began to assemble our things. "What a break," Blair said as she put some items in her trunk.

"One for the record books, really," Alexa, said sitting on her bed as Blair and I put away our things and Alexa's. Alexa was never one for packing. "We sure as hell will never forget this." There was a tone of sadness in her voice as she played with her hair.

I gave Blair a look and she nodded in understanding. "Hey, um, Alex, I meant to ask you this before, but with all the commotion I totally forgot," Blair started and Alexa looked at her questioningly. "After the hide-and-go-seek game, you looked really sad. Did something happen?"

Alexa quickly sat up from her bed and walked over to the window. It was obvious by the way she was acting that something had happened, but of course Alexa wouldn't just tell us. "Um… no. Nothing," she said as casually as possible.

"Nothing?" I questioned, trying to dig down to the deeper problem.

Alexa turned to look at us and shook her head. "Oh, wait," she said with a sudden gasp. "There was something." Blair and I leaned forward, greedy to hear what she was going to say. "I scraped my knee." I let out a sigh and gave her a look. "I fell down and scraped my knee. You know how much I love my knees, I was really upset."

Blair rolled her eyes and continued stowing away items in her trunk. I looked at her knees and noticed that neither of them seemed to have been scraped anytime recently. "Wow. I'm sorry to hear that," I said playing along. "But they seem to be healing really quickly. It's amazing, you can barely even tell that anything is wrong with them."

Alexa looked down at her own knees and then started to weave her web of lies. "Yeah, I know, it's pretty incredible," she said quickly. "You know, I've been meaning to tell you guys this for a while, but I think that I have some sort of cool power where I heal really fast. For example, yesterday I got a paper cut and it was totally healed within the day. Crazy, right?"

"Crazy!" I said, faking immense amounts of enthusiasm. I grabbed a few shirts and began to fold them. "Oh, and when you're ready to tell us the truth, we'll be waiting." Alexa scoffed and hurried out of the room mumbling. Something had happened and a monkey with a half a brain would know that it had to do with Sirius. Ever since I came back home, I noticed that Sirius and Alexa were avoiding each other like the plague. Anytime they were in a room together, one of them would leave within ten minutes. Alexa had even been sleeping on the couch just so she didn't have to even sleep in the same room with him. She claims that she just 'fell asleep reading' but I knew better. For now, I just had to give them both their space until one of them was ready to tell me what happened.

After everything was put away and we tidied up our room, we carried our bags down to the front hall and everyone gathered as we prepared to leave. Mom and Dad stood together, my father's arms holding my mother lovingly. All of us kids stood in a row like a receiving line and readied ourselves to say our goodbyes and head back to school. Dad came to me first as Mom said goodbye to the boys.

Dad smiled at me and pulled me into a gentle hug. "Now, I don't know how any of this is going to work out, but I know that if we're going to make it through this we're going to have to stick together," he said placing a kiss on the top of my head. "I'll love you no matter what. And even though you're growing up faster than I intended, you will always be my little girl."

"Thanks Daddy," I said holding him tighter.

"And Lyla, don't let that one go," he said looking over to Remus who was talking to my mother. "He seems like a good boy and I have every confidence that he will take care of you. And in the event that he doesn't, just remember that I'm the only man in your life that you can always count on and I will never let you down." I gave him a knowing smile and nodded. I placed a kiss on his cheek and then he moved over to Alexa.

My mother came over to me next and just looked at me; her eyes gentle and soft. She took my hands in hers and took a deep breath. "No doubt this has been a rough break for you, for all of us," she said somewhat quietly. "And even though it may not seem like it, I am very proud of you. I don't agree with many of your decisions, but I think you've handled yourself beautifully, and I'm very proud of that. You handled it better than I did." I gave my mother a smile.

"I'm sorry for all the pain I've caused you," I told her, needing to get it off my chest. "I love you so much, and even though I may say I can do this on my own, I'm going to need you through all this. And even though I'm going to be a mother myself, I still need my mom."

"Just know that I'm here for you always, even if we disagree. And I'm so happy that you learned from my mistakes with my mother," she told me. "When you left, I got a glimpse of how my mother felt when I left. I'm thankful, more than anything, that you came back; I was afraid that I was going to lose another one of my children."

I pulled my mother into a hug and held her tight. "You'll never lose me," I assured her. And as I said this, I knew that it was true. My mother and I had put aside our differences and moved to acceptance. I was having a baby and I had my family's support.

We had decided to go back to Platform 9 ¾ without my parents, so we all gathered our belongings and went on our way. The platform was crowded as usual and it was difficult navigating through the throngs of students and parents. In the past, I was usually eager and ready to be heading back to school and Alexa was yearning to stay another few weeks in the comfortable confines of our home. This year, Alexa was the one anxiously anticipating the return to Hogwarts and I was the one clinging to home. I had nothing to hide at home, nothing to be afraid of. At school, I was going to have to work every day to keep my increasingly larger belly from the scrutinizing and judgmental eyes of my classmates.

We dropped off our trunks and then filed into the congested corridors of the Hogwarts Expressed. People passed one after another, some we actually knew, and some were just admirers of the Marauders and offered shallow greetings to the boys. We finally found an empty compartment toward the back of the train. James slid the compartment door open and entered, Blair close behind him. Alexa stopped at the threshold and looked down at the floor. "Yeah, you know what, I completely forgot that Marlene needed to ask me something," she started; I already could see where this was going. "So, I'm going to go find her. I'll find you guys later."

Without another word, she pulled the strap of her bag farther up her shoulder and then walked away from us toward where Marlene supposedly was seated. I shook my head at my clearly tormented sister and prepared to move forward but now Sirius was stopped. "I need something from my trunk," he said. "I'll see you guys later." Sirius took off down the corridor in the opposite direction of Alexa. I continued to watch Sirius as he stalked off and I noticed that he slammed a nearby compartment wall with his hand. I looked back at Remus who just shrugged and then ushered me into the compartment, closing the door behind him.

"Where did Pads go?" James asked looking to Remus and I as we sat down.

"He said he had to get something from his trunk, but he's probably just going somewhere to blow off some steam," Remus said. "He's been extremely edgy lately."

"So has Alexa," Blair added. "Do you guys know what's going on?" she questioned the boys.

They both shook their heads. "Sirius hasn't said anything, which isn't surprising, but obviously something happened during that hide-and-go-seek game," James said. "It's always something with those two, it's a little hard to keep up nowadays." We all nodded knowing all too well.

"So, is it my turn or your turn to go after her?" Blair asked jokingly. I smiled and gave her a nod. "Duty calls," she said patting James's knee and standing up.

"I suppose I'll tend to the other one," James added as Blair left. "Make sure he doesn't hurt anyone. Be back in a bit." I waved goodbye to James and then scooted closer to Remus as he put his arm around me.

"How are you doing?" Remus asked rubbing my arm soothingly.

I appreciated his concern, but honestly, I was getting tired of people asking me if I was okay. I knew he only meant well. "I'm doing fine, can't really complain all too much," I told him. "I'm relieved that our parents finally know and I feel like we can finally move forward with some things now."

"Like what?" he questioned.

"I don't know, just things in general," I said. "Stuff with the baby and us. It feels good to be moving forward again and now I feel like we can really plan for things now." I could feel him nod his head in agreement. "However, even though I'm excited to start making a plan, I realize that there is so much to do and I don't know how we're going to do everything. There's so much that has to be worked out not with just us but with the school. What's going to happen once I have the baby? I want to stay in school, but how is that going to work?"

"Look, we just need to take one step at a time," he said reassuringly. "We will figure it out, and we have some time for that. And we'll talk to Dumbledore and sort out all the stuff for when the baby comes."

"Okay, okay," I repeated. "I just need to relax and calm down." I took a deep breath and thought of something that would be a little bit happier to talk about. "So, I've been thinking, we need to pick godparents for the baby. People who are going to set a good example for him or her, going to give them good advice, people who will be there for them if, God forbid, something were to happen to us. They need to be people we would trust leaving our child with and would trust to raise our child."

As we both sat there for a minute contemplating what I had said Remus said, "I don't think we know anybody like that. In fact, I think they would be better off without any godparents." I laughed and hit him playfully on the chest.

"Remus, I'm serious, we need to think about this carefully," I stressed. "Godparents are a huge part of a child's life, I know mine were. Scott and Jenny, while she was alive, were always there for me and I know Scott will always look after me, he's like my second Dad."

"Can't we just pick the Pope and Mother Teresa? I trust them, they seem pretty morally sound," Remus said, half jokingly.

I sat up quickly and looked Remus straight in the eyes. "No, Remus, we cannot pick the Pope and Mother Teresa! We don't know them, they are strangers to us."

"Well, I trust them with our child more than I trust James, Sirius, or Peter," he explained.

I gave him a look and continued, "Well, we work with what we got." I settled back under his arm and leaned my head on his chest. "Now, as far as the godmother goes, I almost have to pick Alexa because if I didn't she would throw a fit. As for the godfather, I'll leave that one up to you."

"Oh sure, leave all the hard decisions up to me," he said jokingly, squeezing me. "To be honest, I can rule Peter out pretty quickly; he barely can take care of himself. James and Sirius both have their faults; I guess it just comes down to who has the fewest." He paused here to think. "Even though I risk Sirius kicking my ass, I'm going to have to go with James."

"I think that's a good choice," I told him. "But I swear, if James passes on any of his weird quirks to our child, I'm going to kill him." We laughed together as I thought about the day when James would have his own children. "You know, maybe it's not too late to give the Pope a call." Remus's laughed rolled through his body.

He rested his chin on the top of my head and said, "James and Alexa it is then." I nodded my head in agreement. "Look at us, being all mature and such, making plans. I give us an 'A' for the day." He sounded so proud of himself.

"Don't get too ahead of yourself," I told him, patting his leg, "We still have a lot more to do, stuff a lot harder than picking godparents."

"One day at a time," he said simply hugging me closer. A short while later, James returned, cursing under his breath.

"I swear," he said, frustrated, plopping down onto his seat, "There is no talking to him when he's this way. I tried talking to him and tried to help but he just became his distant asshole self and shut me out. That's the last time I try to make him feel better."

"James, you and I both know that's not true," I said to him with a smile.

"I know, but just let me pretend for a little while," he responded, still looking a bit flustered. A short time after that Peter joined us. Peter had been somewhat of a mystery this year. In the past he was always around and constantly trailing after James and Sirius, but this year he was going off by himself or with other people more, which I thought was good for him. "Wormy!" James exclaimed. He grabbed Peter and pulled him down next to him and ruffled his hair. Peter just laughed slightly and shook James off nervously.

"Hey, Peter," I said, giving him a warm smile. "We missed you over break. Did you have a nice time at your grandmother's?"

Peter began to splutter like he usually did when he was put on the spot. Finally, he said, "Yeah, it was alright." Good ole Pete, a many of few words.

"You've been going to your grandmother's a lot lately Wormtail, everything alright with her?" Remus asked, concerned.

"Oh… um… well she's been a bit sick lately," Peter said, slowly searching his mind for each word.

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that mate," Remus said. "Let us know if we can ever do anything." Peter nodded his head in thanks to his friend's gesture.

The rest of the train ride was spent without Alexa and Sirius. Blair had eventually returned and said that Alexa wasn't able to come back because she was 'super busy', according to Alexa. She was acting so weird, but what's new, really? Once back at school, Alexa and Sirius finally graced us with their presence, but they kept a good distance between each other and never once did they speak. We made it through dinner without anyone getting mad at anyone. And most people would see this as a good thing, but this wasn't normal for when Alexa and Sirius were fighting; and that's what worried me.

Usually when those two were mad at each other, they fought and fought, and then after that they just fought some more. But this time, they weren't fighting, they weren't speaking to each other or any of us for that matter; they weren't saying anything. As we left the Great Hall and headed back to the dorms, Professor McGonagall stopped us in the front hall.

"Mr. Black, Professor Dumbledore needs to see you and Miss Parker in his office now, please," she said plainly, looking over some scrolls in her hands. We all looked at each other, not knowing what to make of this. Did Dumbledore know that they were fighting? Had he had enough of it too? Not to be mean, but that's pretty bad when even the headmaster is tired of your squabbling. Sirius moved forward and then Alexa followed suit. McGonagall looked up over her glasses. "No, not you, Miss Parker," McGonagall said, "The other Miss Parker." She looked over to me and now we were all significantly more confused. "You two get on your way, and the rest of you need to get to your dorms."

Not knowing what on earth was going on, Sirius and I left the group and continued on as we were told. Sirius and I walked side by side down the various empty corridors. "I wonder what all this is about," I said honestly curious but also to try and provoke Sirius to speak. He didn't take the bait, however, he just shrugged his shoulders. "Do you think something's wrong?" Another shrug. "What could have to do with just me and you?" Yet another, noncommittal shrug. "Sirius, do you want to talk about why you're in such a foul mood lately?" He just looked at me with apologetic eyes. "Even though I am Alexa's sister, I'm also your friend; I don't just give best friend hugs to randoms." This extracted a small, tiny smile from him. "I know how to separate those two parts of me if you need to talk to someone. I know talking to the other Marauders about this kind of stuff isn't the easiest at times, they aren't entirely sensitive at times."

Sirius ran his hands through his hair and let out a sigh. "Lyls, I really appreciate the offer, but right now, I can't talk about it," he said quietly. "And I don't mean to be in a foul mood. I didn't mean any of it," he whispered sadly. I didn't really know what he was talking about, but I just nodded my head and patted him on the back, assuring him that it was okay.

We walked the rest of the way in silence. When we finally arrived at Dumbledore's office, I gently knocked on the door and it swung open slowly. Dumbledore was standing by his desk tending to his phoenix. He recognized us as we entered his office and greeted us with a serene smile and that classic twinkle in his eye. "Ah, good evening to you Mr. Black and Miss Parker," he said ushering us to come closer. "I'm sure by now your minds are thoroughly churning away trying to calculate every possibility as to why I have summoned you this night. Now, I won't say that I'm not curious as to what your young, bright minds have invented, but that is not the reason why I have brought you here."

He paused here and motioned to the seats in front of his desk. We both took a seat as he did the same. "Mr. Black, as I'm sure you're aware, you have recently become of age and Miss Parker you will join Mr. Black this Friday, I believe." I nodded my head in agreement. "Our world is changing and is being threatened. I don't tell you this to scare you in any way, I tell you this because you need to be aware that things are going to become very difficult in the near future. There is a group consisting of some faculty and other magical beings that are dedicated to fighting to protect the lives of those in danger."

Dumbledore continued to talk and tell us all about Voldemort and the Order of the Phoenix. He explained that there was a select group of students that would be approached about this as they neared their seventeenth birthday. He said that the choice on whether to join or not was ours, and he stressed the danger that we could be putting ourselves in by joining forces with the Order. I looked to Sirius as Dumbledore talked, and I saw a life in Sirius's eyes that I hadn't seen in a long time.

"You both possess qualities that the Order feels are compatible with our fight. And Miss Parker, while I hesitated extending this offer to you, given your condition, I also believe that you know your limit and will use discretion when it comes to the Order. I now leave the choice to you."

Sirius answered almost immediately. "I'm in," he said with such conviction. "I want to fight against him and everything that he stands for." I knew Sirius was particularly referring to the whole blood status issue that Voldemort promoted.

Dumbledore nodded and then looked to me. I wasn't as quick to answer as Sirius was. I honestly didn't know what to do. I wanted Voldemort to be stopped but I was scared. I had to think about my child now, not just myself. Deep down I knew that I had to do this, I had to fight for my child to be safe, even if that meant putting myself into harms way. "I'm in too," I said. I looked to Sirius who gave me a smile.

"As you wish," Dumbledore said. "I do ask that you mention this to no one. If we want to be affective, we need to retain a semblance of secrecy for the time being. Don't even tell your friends, they, in time, will learn of all this." We nodded in agreement. "Now you two head on back to your house; and remember, tell no one." Sirius and I stood up from our seats and headed for the door. Sirius opened the door first and allowed me to pass and then followed behind me. Once we were back in the main corridor, Sirius and I stopped for a moment letting everything sink in.

"Was that not the most amazing thing that's ever happened?" Sirius said, very excited. "We're in the Order. We're going to fight against Voldemort and all that pureblood bullshit."

"Yeah, it's great," I said, not as enthusiastically. I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared.

"Don't be scared, Lyla," Sirius said, pulling me next to him, his arm around my shoulders. "We're fighting for our safety, for everyone's safety. But if it makes you feel better, you know Remus will protect you to his death. And I'll always be there to look after you, although you'll probably be the one looking after us." He gave me a squeeze and a smile. "We're building a better world for little Sirius III in there."

I looked up at him. "You've got to be completely daft if you think I'm naming my child Sirius III."

"You're right," he said, throwing his own idea out the window. "I would never want to curse another innocent soul with that name. You need a name that's noble, meaningful, and outright epic."

"Are you implying that you're innocent?" I questioned, a small smile creeping onto my lips.

"Let me have my moment," he said looking straight ahead. "Let me have my moment."

"If it was my birthday, where would I be?" I looked up from my book and rolled my eyes at Blair and Alexa sitting across from me. It was late Friday afternoon and the library was buzzing, quietly, with students. "Blair, if it was my birthday, where would I be?" Alexa asked again.

Blair tapped her chin for a few seconds and then jumped to share her idea, "At a party." Alexa shook her head. "At a carnival?" Another no. "In a night club?" Nope. "On the moon?" Yet another shake of Alexa's head. "In the library?"

Alexa slammed the table and then pointed at Blair. "Definitely not in the library," she said forcefully. "Alright, let's try this one. If it were Lyla's birthday, where would she be?" Alexa asked with a large smile. I closed my book, knowing that it was pointless to continue. I sat there patiently as I awaited the reveal of my birthday surprise.

Blair wrinkled her nose and then her eyes twinkled. "Oh, I know this one. In Hogsmeade enjoying a lovely birthday meal with the two best friends in the whole wide world."

"You hit the nail on the head, Blair," Alexa said. "And you know what, what a coincidence," she added looking down at the imaginary watch on her wrist, "Today just happens to be the day of Lyla's birth. Funny how that worked out isn't it?"

I nodded my head playing along. "Yeah, that is wild," I said leaning back against my chair. "As much fun as that sounds guys, I was just kind of hoping to hang around here with everyone."

"Rubbish" exclaimed Alexa, which warranted several, shushes from those around us. "Lyla, it is your seventeenth birthday, this is huge, and we have to do something. And what is it with people not wanting to celebrate their seventeenth birthdays this year? Just for the record, I want a total blowout when I turn seventeen."

"Duly noted," I told her, making a mental note. "But Alexa, my situation's a little different."

"Lyla, you're pregnant, not dead," Blair said quietly. "You deserve to have a little fun. And trust us, it's nothing major, just the three of us hanging out and eating food, plus we get to get out of the castle for a little while."

Now that I thought about it, I was extremely hungry and I was looking to have a bit of fun after being cooped up in the library for most of the day. "What about the boys? Did you check with Remus to make sure it was okay? We had planned on hanging out tonight, all of us and all the guys."

"Oh, forget the boys, what they want doesn't matter," Alexa said, anger underlying her voice. "If what I want isn't important to him, then what he wants isn't important to me." Blair and I gave her a curious look, not really following what she was talking about. "Us," she said, "What they want isn't important to us." She quickly looked away and started biting at the nail on her thumb.

"What Alexa is trying to say, I think, is yes, we talked it over with Remus and the guys, and they all agree that you should do this," Blair said, attempting to clarify.

"Okay, fine, I'm in," I said, giving in. "I'm yours for the evening."

"Excellent," Alexa responded, quite mischievously. "Now, let's go, time to get dressed and ready. It's your birthday and you need to look totally hot."

I was led to our dorm room and immediately forced into the shower. After I exiting the shower I was pulled in front of the mirror. Alexa and Blair pulled and prodded pretty much everything. As Alexa attacked my hair, Blair was equally busy fooling with my face. When they were finally done 'glamming me up', as Blair put it, they led me out to the bedroom where there was an outfit lying on my bed. There was a light aqua colored long-sleeved shirt, a high-waisted black skirt and a pair of grey ballet flats sitting on the floor. I looked back at Alexa and Blair, who were beaming.

"Now, get dressed, mind your hair, and we're going to get dressed," Alexa said. I nodded and then pulled them into a hug. When I released them, they scurried off to get ready and I quickly put on the new clothes that were before me. When we were all dressed, we stood in front of the full-length mirror and assessed ourselves. "Damn, we look good," Blair, described our reflection. And she was right; we did look good.

Blair stood a little taller than usual in her heels that matched her pink and black dress. The dress fell right above her knee and the heels elongated her legs and made them look endless. Her hair was in soft beach waves that fell loosely over her shoulders. Alexa looked exceptional as well. She was sporting a dark pair of skinny jeans, black heels, and a black leather jacket with the perfect color purple underneath it. Her short blonde hair rested right at the shoulder of her jacket and her smoky makeup looked marvelous on her.

"I'm going to be honest," Alexa started, turning to the side and pulling on her jacket, "I feel like I could totally kick somebody's ass right now." She struck a pose in the mirror and gave a hardcore look that got me laughing. "I'm serious, I feel like I should be packing heat with this outfit." Blair and I laughed as we gathered up our bags and got ready to leave. Before we left, though, we stopped by the boy's dorm to say goodnight.

We knocked on the door and waited until James opened the door, whom's mouth literally dropped to the floor when he saw us. The reaction was pretty satisfying. "Um," he said, clearing his throat, "Hey, come in." He backed up and let us in, closing the door behind us. The four boys sat in silence on their respective beds and stared at us. "Happy birthday, Lyla," James managed to get out. I gave him a smile and offered my thanks.

"Alright," Sirius said suddenly, "Since it's clearly the elephant in the room, I'm just going to say it. You guys look freaking hot right now." Little seconds later, a pillow made contact with Sirius's head.

"Oi! That's my girlfriend you're talking about," Remus exclaimed, looking sternly at Sirius. "My pregnant girlfriend, at that." He got up off his bed and moved over to where I was standing.

"Look Moony, I can't help it if the mother of your child looks stunning, she's a hot mom," Sirius added, not really helping his case.

"Well, thank you, Sirius," I said. Remus pulled me into his arms and placed a kiss on my lips.

"Happy birthday," he said quietly, kissing me again. "And you do look beautiful. Maybe a little too beautiful," he said jokingly. I assured him that he had nothing to worry about, gave him one last kiss and then we moved to leave. "You three have fun," Remus called after us.

"Not too much fun, though," James added as we headed down the stairs. The three of us laughed at the boys we were leaving behind.

"So, not to put a damper on this whole evening and not to undermine our own abilities, but how are we going to get in and out of Hogsmeade without getting caught when we don't have the guys with us?" I asked.

"You know, I'm so glad you asked," Alexa said confidently. "While you two were busy being ogled by your boyfriends, I went into James's trunk and got this." Out of her bag she pulled familiar looking parchment. "Even if Sirius and Peter saw me take it, they were too distracted to say anything, and by the time they realize what happened, we'll be long gone. No need for applause." Blair and I looked at each other and then to Alexa, who was indeed kicking some ass tonight.

"Alex, you're brilliant!" Blair said taking the map from Alexa. "That's the way to use your body to get what you want." Blair tapped the map and we began our journey to Hogsmeade.

Surprisingly enough, we made it to Hogsmeade with no trouble at all and never once had to dodge a teacher. We arrived at the Three Broomsticks where Rosmerta was kind enough to seat us without a big fuss. We settled into our booth, ordered some drinks, and relaxed. Alexa picked up her firewhiskey and raised it in the air. I grabbed my water and did the same. "To Lyla, on her seventeenth birthday. May the years to come be filled with laughter, joy, love and friendship," Alexa said, quite cheekily. We clinked our classes together and then took a drink.

Blair let out a breath and then leaned forward on the table. "Oh, man. Isn't this great? The three of us just hanging out," she said. "It's been a while since it's just been the three of us. And with everything that happened over break, I feel like I've barely gotten to talk to either of you."

"You know, this is nice," I agreed. "And I can't thank you guys enough for being there for me these last few months; it truly meant the world to me." Alexa and Blair both smiled and nodded. "So," I said shifting the conversation, "Alexa, I couldn't help but notice that Sirius was practically devouring you with his eyes."

Alexa nearly started choking on her drink when I said this. She covered her mouth and coughed slightly. "I… um, I highly doubt that," she said taking another careful sip.

"Oh, I don't know, Alex, it looked that way to me too," Blair added.

"Really, I know that's not how it was," Alexa said a little sadly. "He wasn't looking at me like that at all. Not anymore."

"Okay, what the hell happened between you two?" I asked, just coming out with it. "I wanted to give you some time because I knew you'd come to me eventually, but I can't keep seeing you like this and I can't take anymore of you guys ignoring each other like the plague. So, spill."

"Lyls, it's your birthday," Alexa started, clearly trying to avoid this particular topic, "We aren't going to talk about what's going on between me and Sirius."

"So there is something going on?" Blair asked, jumping on Alexa's words.

"No," she said quickly. "Just can we drop it, please?"

"We can't drop it," I told her plainly. "I'm the birthday girl, and this is what I want to talk about."

Seeing that she wasn't getting out of this one, Alexa let out a large sigh and then she dropped her head to rest on the table and covered it with her arms. "It's over," she said solemnly.

"Alex," I said soothingly, "You know it's not over. You guys always say that but then you get back together. You guys just need some time apart."

"I wish that were the case," she said tracing her finger around the rim of her mug. "This time, it really is over. When we were playing hide-and-seek, we were down behind that hill by the old creek and we just started talking. We were trying to figure out what the hell we were going to do because what we were doing wasn't working. I told him I couldn't be a friend with him because it was too hard. I can't be around him day in and day out and act like nothing's wrong. So, he ended it all for good."

"He may not have meant it, Alexa," Blair said, trying to comfort Alexa. "Maybe he just didn't know what else to say."

"He meant it," Alexa assured us. "He looked me straight in the eyes and told me it was over. He can't be what I need and I can't be what he needs. I can't even be a friend to him. I just can't take it. That's why I've been avoiding him. It hurts too much."

"I'm so sorry, Alexa," Blair said, putting her hand overtop of Alexa's. "Is there anything we can do? I just hate seeing you like this."

"There's literally nothing that can be done," she told us. "I just have to work through this and get to the point where I'm okay with not being anything to Sirius."

"Well," I said, draping my arm around Alexa's shoulders, "Know that we are hear for you if you need anything. We're here if you need someone to talk to, someone to cry on, someone to break Sirius's knee caps, we'll pretty much do anything." Alexa laughed slightly at this and smiled.

Rosmerta suddenly appeared at our table, three drinks in her hands. "Here you go ladies," she said setting the drinks down in front of us.

"Um, Rosmerta, we didn't order these," Blair said, confused.

"I know," she said. "They're from the blokes over there." We looked over to where Rosmerta nodded and seated at a table were three guys. They looked slightly older than us, in their early twenties, and they raised their glasses when they caught sight of us staring. Alexa raised her drink to them and then smiled.

"Ah, it really pays off to look hot," Alexa said in a satisfactory tone.

"Alexa, maybe we shouldn't accept these," I said, me being the overly cautious one. "I mean we don't even know those guys."

"Oh, relax Lyla," Alexa said sipping at her drink. "Loosen up a bit, it's your birthday. And since you're not going to drink that, I'll just help myself." She took my drink and placed it in front of her along with the other.

I tried to loosen up but there was just something off about these guys. They had practically been staring the whole night, and to be honest, they just had some shifty looking eyes. I just had this feeling that they were no good, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. They kept sending drinks, not all of which Alexa and Blair drank, but by the third round I knew that we had to leave.

"Hey, you guys, I hate to end this party early, but I'm getting pretty tired," I lied. "I know I'm not as much fun as I used to be," I joked, "But would you terribly mind if we just headed back up to the castle?"

"Of course that's okay," Blair said. "We can do whatever you like." We gathered our stuff up, paid Rosmerta and then slid out of the booth. As we readied ourselves to leave, the guys at the table shifted slightly in their seats impatiently and began to discuss something. I quickly made for the door, Blair and Alexa close behind me.

As the door to the Three Broomsticks closed behind us, we heard it open a few seconds later. "Can I buy you another drink?" a voice called out. We stopped and turned around to see one of the guys trailing after us.

"No thanks," Alexa said coolly. "We're not interested." As Alexa turned, the man grabbed Alexa's arm to stop her and the other two guys filed out of the pub.

"Really," the guy said darkly, "Let me buy you another drink." Alexa tried to pull her arm free but it was no use, his grip was too strong.

"Let go of me," Alexa muttered with as much confidence as possible. As I stood by Blair watching the whole scene unfold I could see Blair begin to tense up and I could feel my heart rate climbing. Instinctively, I pulled my wand out and held it behind my back. "Let. Go," Alexa repeated. Suddenly, everything started to move so fast.

Alexa's free hand flew up and made contact with the guys face. The other two had drawn their wands. Spells were flying and I tried my best to cast defensive spell after defensive spell until Alexa and Blair could get their wands. I had never been in a situation like this before but somehow I just knew what to do. Magic had never flowed through me so fluently and real like it was at this moment. I could tell the three mystery men were pretty advanced because I didn't even recognize some of the spells they were casting. Alexa and Blair finally joined me just as I ducked to miss a spell.

Several people began to come out of the various shops and pubs and saw what was going on. And then all hell broke loose. It seemed that the three we were fighting weren't alone. Pretty soon several more had joined them and many of the shop tenders and bystanders had joined in the scuffle.

Spells were flying back and forth and when I looked around me I realized that I had lost Alexa and Blair. I searched frantically for them but I couldn't find them. Suddenly, someone grabbed my shoulders and I let out a shriek. When I turned around I saw that it was Rosmerta. She quickly dragged me into the backroom of the Three Broomsticks, where Blair and Alexa were already waiting, breathing heavily. "I've alerted Dumbledore to what's going on. I've also told Professor Flitwick, who was already here, about you three and he's going to take you back to the castle. You need to wait here and stay hidden until Flitwick comes." She left us without another word and returned outside.

"What the hell is going on?" Alexa panicked. "One second we're just enjoying a lovely evening, the next some psychos are blowing shit up."

"I have no clue," I said brushing the hair from my face, "But we need to get out of here."

"Where the hell is Flitwick? Where is that tiny man when you need him?" Blair exclaimed. Shortly after Blair's outburst, Flitwick burst into the room and quickly gathered us up and led the way out the back toward the castle. We were practically running back to the castle when a sharp pain hit me. I kept going but the pain shot through my abdomen again and this time it was too strong to overcome. I had to stop and I doubled over in pain.

"Lyla!" Alexa shouted, seeing that I had stopped. "Why are you stopping?"

"Ow!" I held my stomach as a wave of pain brushed over me. "Alexa, I think something's wrong," I said, genuine fear in my voice. Fear not for what we were fleeing from but for what I was feeling.

Flitwick and Blair were ahead of us now and were nearing the castle. Alexa put her arm around my waist and took my hand to help me walk. "Okay, just hold onto me and move as quickly as you can."

When we caught up to Flitwick and Blair are the doors to the school, Flitwick realized that something was wrong. "Is she okay?" he asked Alexa.

"She's hurt," Alexa said, keeping it vague enough so she wouldn't have to explain that I was pregnant to Flitwick. "We need to get her to the Hospital Wing. Blair, go get Remus."

"Okay, I'll go on ahead and alert Madame Pomfrey," Flitwick sputtered hastily. He was freaking out, I could tell. "Alexa, can you get her to the Hospital Wing on your own?" Alexa nodded her head as another pang vibrated through me like a bell.

"Alexa," I said through clenched teeth. "It hurts so bad." Alexa looked at me and she tried to hide the fear in her eyes but it was no use. I had no idea what was wrong with me or what this unbearable pain was but I couldn't help but get the terrible feeling that it had something to do with the baby.

"I know it hurts," she said trying to calm me down. "You just have to hang in there. I need you to just hang in there until we get to Madame Pomfrey. Just push through it. Please get through this." Alexa sounded like she was almost pleading. I took in a sharp breath and closed my eyes trying to block out the discomfort as we continued to walk. Alexa was practically holding me up but that didn't seem to ease the cramps.

Out of nowhere the sound of frantic footsteps were approaching. "Lyla!" Suddenly Remus came running into my line of vision. "Oh my God, Lyls, are you okay?" He brushed the hair from my eyes and then held my face in his hands. "What the hell happened?"

Before I could say anything, Alexa began to explain. "We were just in Hogsmeade, these people started to attack us and then a full out fight broke out. And when we were coming back up here Lyla started having some pains."

"Remus," I said, grabbing his arm and squeezing it. "I need to get to Madame Pomfrey. There's something wrong." Remus nodded his head and then moved to my side, slipping one arm underneath my arms and the other went to the underside of my knees. He scooped me up and held me close to his body. I wrapped my arms around Remus's neck and rested my head against his chest.

"I've got you, sweetheart. I've got you," Remus whispered to me as he continued down the corridor, Alexa trailing right behind us. There were so many thoughts running through my mind, each one interrupted by a shooting pain. What if there was a complication with the baby? I had just gotten used to the idea that I was actually pregnant and I couldn't bear the thought of losing it. My mind also kept going back to the attack. I played it all back to myself trying to figure it out. Who were those people? What were they doing? And why were they attacking innocent people? I couldn't help but feel that it had something to do with what Dumbledore had told Sirius and I.

As we neared the hospital, I could see Madame Pomfrey standing in the corridor waiting for us, the light from the inner wing framing her. She rushed forward upon seeing us and guided us in. "Take her to any bed," she instructed Remus, "I'll get my things." Remus laid me down gently on one of the beds. I grabbed his hand before he could move too far away. Madame Pomfrey came over in a hurry holding several vials. She uncorked a pinkish looking one and leaned toward me. "Here, this will help with the pain." As the fluid snaked it's way down my throat, the taste nearly made me spit it out. I swallowed hard and let out a shutter. "Now, I'm going to take a look at the baby." Alexa's eyes widened and she looked panic-stricken. I grabbed her hand with my free hand and gave her a weak smile.

Just as it had gone before, the orb of energy drifted from the tip of Madame Pomfrey's wand and dissolved into my abdomen. However, this time I didn't feel the same warm soothing sensation that I had felt before. It was almost as if the energy was experiencing some friction. When the orb reappeared before us, Madame Pomfrey leaned closer to examine the scan. When she turned back to me, her eyes told me that something was definitely wrong. "What is it?" I asked forcefully, not wanting her to sugar coat things.

She took a deep breath, looked at the scan again and then back to me. "It seems that your baby is in some distress," she said straightforward. "Professor Flitwick told me what happened down in Hogsmeade and if you were doing a lot of heavy spell casting, it would put a lot of stress on the baby. As a magical being, you have this part of you that takes a lot of energy and coupled with a pregnancy can be detrimental to both the mother and child if one isn't careful." Remus squeezed my hand and Alexa grabbed the closest chair and sat down next to me.

"Now, the baby's heart rate is abnormal due to the amount of stress it's under. We need to stabilize the baby and then I think that will take care of the pain," she continued. She looked at the remaining vials and chose a deep blue one. She handed it to me and I again ingested the liquid. Within minutes I could already feel the pain dulling. Madame Pomfrey inspected the scan again and nodded in a pleased manner. "I'm not saying that you can't do magic, but every person has their limit. For now, I would stay away from extensive, complicated spell work. Schoolwork should be fine but you have to start listening closer to your body. When you start to feel anything out of the ordinary you need to stop." I nodded my head in agreement and looked at the energy form that was still in front of me.

I looked over at Alexa who was staring at the same thing. She turned to me and said, "So that's it then? That's my little niece or nephew?" I nodded. "Well, it's not very cute, is it?" I scoffed and hit her arm. How dare she call my baby 'not very cute'! She had no clue what she was talking about.

"For your information, he or she has six or so months left in here," I said pointing to my stomach. "That's six months for additional cuteness to develop. And you know it's going to be cute, I mean look at us." I pointed to me and Remus and Alexa just laughed.

"You know," Madame Pomfrey chimed in, "I can tell you the sex of the baby, if you'd like to know. Finally know whether it's a he or a she."

I looked up to Remus. "Do you want to know?" I asked, a little blown away by what Madame Pomfrey had proposed.

Remus lifted my hand to his lips and kissed it. "I want to know if you want to know, but if you want to be surprised, I'm more than happy to wait."

"Well, I know I want to know," Alexa added. "I'm tired of calling this kid an it." It was almost as if she had any say in the matter. "I mean, having it be a surprise is kind of exciting, but if you find out the sex now, you can start planning their name, buying gender specific clothes and other things."

"Having this baby is surprise enough," I said. "I think I'd like to know what I'm having. Even if it is trivial, it gives me a slight feeling of comfort knowing something in advance." Remus nodded giving me his blessing and then Madame Pomfrey nodded. She flicked her wand at the energy form and it started to shift and turn. When it finally stilled, she looked back at us with a smile. "Miss Parker, Mr. Lupin, I'm pleased to say that you are having a baby girl."

A smile spread across my face and I was filled with insurmountable joy. In a little over six months I would be giving birth to a little baby girl. Visions of the future suddenly flooded my mind. I began to think of all the things that we would be able to do with her, all the things that Remus and I could pass onto her. I couldn't wait to watch her grow up and to see which features of Remus and me she would inherit. And although I had known that this baby was coming, it was like I was finding it out all over again. This was our baby, our little girl.

Remus looked at me and he looked even more excited than I did. He leaned down and brushed the hair from my face. "We're having a girl," he said, almost laughing from his joy. "We're having a girl," he repeated, placing several soft pecks on my lips. He wrapped his arms around me and held me tight. "I love," he whispered. "I love you and our daughter."

When Remus released me, Alexa moved in for a hug. "Congrats, sis," she said. "And I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, 'How can I possibly ensure that my daughter will grow up to be just like her favorite auntie?' But, don't worry, I'm going to be there every step of the way to make sure she gets all the important knowledge and life lessons one needs to be like me."

"Thanks, Alex, that's highly reassuring and comforting," I said patting her hand.

Madame Pomfrey waved her wand again and the energy dissolved and entered back through the tip of her wand. "Now, I suggest that you take it easy the next few days; allow yourself some time to get your strength back up. Also, I think it'd be best if you stay here for the remainder of the evening," she informed me. "Mr. Lupin and Miss Parker, you are welcome to stay as long as you like, but I do require you to keep this between us; I bend the rules far to often for you lot." Madame Pomfrey shook her head and then returned to her office.

"Thank you, Poppy," Remus called after her. Remus turned his focus back to me and smiled at me adoringly. He looked so happy. I hadn't seen him this excited about something in a long time, possibly ever. I liked seeing him like this. "Are you happy?" he asked me.

"Yeah," I said with a certainty that I hadn't felt in so long. "I've got my boyfriend, my sister, and my daughter, what more could I possibly ask for?"

"That by some miracle no one in this entire school will notice that you're pregnant, for a million dollars to pay for all the expenses of a baby, not to mention the grace of God and patience to deal with wedding plans," Alexa offered, killing the perfectly good, possibly a little naïve, mood that filled the room. What a dream killer. I don't know if it was my hormones acting crazy or if I was genuinely freaking out, but I completely lost it and started to panic.

Even thought I had accepted that I was pregnant and was so happy to be having this baby with someone that I truly loved, I knew the rest of the school didn't feel the way that I did. And I know that I shouldn't care what others think about me, it's really none of their business anyways, but I didn't know if I could handle quite yet the harsh criticism that would come from my schoolmates. I also realized that in all this time, Remus and I never really discussed exactly how we were to care for this child. How could we have missed something so obvious?

This kid was going to have to eat, she was going to need diapers, and she was going to have to wear clothes. Where was everything going to come from? Sure I was a witch but I couldn't exactly just pull food and clothes out of a hat. I was going to have to drop out of school and get a job; there was no other way. And then on top of all that, Remus and I were getting married. We still had to plan an entire wedding. I suddenly forgot how to breathe. As I began to hyperventilate, Alexa and Remus stood over me.

"Oh, Alexa, why the hell did you have to say that?" Remus asked as he tried to calm me down.

"What?" Alexa exclaimed. "She asked what more she could ask for so I simply told her." Pausing for a moment shrugged her shoulders. "Looking back on it now, I realize that that was a rhetorical question and I'm sorry," she said sheepishly. "Lyls, you've got to calm down, I was just kidding, don't listen to me, seriously, don't worry."

"Don't worry?" I said somewhat calmly. "Don't worry!" I turned to Alexa. "How do expect me not to worry, when you've so aptly laid out all the stuff I need to worry about! The whole school is going to think I'm a slut, I won't be able to feed or clothe my own child, and I don't know the first thing about planning a wedding."

"We'll help you Lyla, with everything," Alexa tried to comfort me. "Plus, all that is in the future, you don't need to fool with that stuff right now. It'll be fine."

"That's easy for you to say!" I said accusingly. Remus just covered his face and shook his head at Alexa. "You're not the one who has to carry another human being for nine months. You're not the one that everyone is going to talk about. You're not going to have to be the one who has to provide for this child, you get to be the fun aunt." I was thoroughly flustered and, I'll admit, I started jumping to extreme conclusions. "I've figured it all out. I'll mysteriously just disappear from school, get a job and work until we have enough money to support a child, which could be forever. And maybe we should hold off on getting married. Just take a few years and see how this whole parenting thing goes. We just have so much else going on, the last thing we need right now is a wedding."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Remus spoke up. He sat on the edge of the bed and turned me toward him. "I am going to do everything in my power to work it out so you can stay in school, my parents have already offered to help financially with the baby until we get out of school and I have some money saved up, and we are getting married." I went to protest but he just silenced me. "You are going to be my wife, and I don't need to 'test drive' anything, I know that I want you and parenthood and everything that comes with marrying you. And remember, we are in this together, none of this is solely your burden; I'm here to lighten the load. So, even though I know it's going to be hard, you need to let go of some of that control; let us take care of you for a change."

I don't know how he did it, but Remus was always able to put things in perspective for me. "Let me handle any financial stuff, Blair and Alexa will help with the wedding stuff, and if anyone even thinks a negative thought about you when you start to show, James and Sirius will beat them up. Okay?" he asked. I nodded my head. He placed a kiss on my temple and smoothed back my hair. "Now, you need to get some sleep."

"So do you," I said, seeing the tiredness in his eyes. "You go back and let the others know that I'm okay and you get some good sleep."

"I'm fine," he assured me. "I don't mind staying with you, I just want to make sure you're alright."

"If I have to stop worrying so much, so do you," I said with a smile. "I'm not a porcelain doll, Remus, I'm perfectly fine, and you need to rest just as much as I do." I could tell that he wasn't quite satisfied with this deal. "If it makes you feel better, Alexa will stay with me." Fighting through a large yawn, Alexa nodded her head.

"Never fear, Reemsy," Alexa said, "I will guard your fair maiden with my life. She shall see no harm as long as I am by her side." Remus gave Alexa a smirk. "Now get out of here, get some sleep and quit pestering us; we're sister bonding tonight." Remus gave me a kiss and the somewhat reluctantly left my side. Once he completely exited the wing, Alexa let out a sigh. "I never thought we'd get rid of him," she said with a wink. She nudged me and I moved to make room for her in the bed.

She settled in under the covers and we laid side by side like we had so many years ago when we'd stay up for hours on end talking in the moonlight. "Now, in all seriousness, and now that Remus is gone, how are you really? You feel okay right?"

"Yes, I promise," I told her. "I feel fine again, I was just over stressed before, and that's all." We sat there for a few minutes just staring up at the ceiling. Madame Pomfrey came out and turned off the lights, only a small amount of light filled the room. "Thanks for tonight, by the way, I had a lot of fun."

She let out a laugh. "Yeah, nothing says fun like getting attacked by randoms and having your baby get distressed," she said sarcastically. "It's just what we had planned for your birthday. You may have thought that this was all just spontaneous, but we totally worked this all out for you." We both laughed slightly. I closed my eyes and pulled the thin blanket up around my neck. "Hey, Lyla?" Alexa said in a whisper.

"Mhmm," I muttered.

"When you and Remus got in that huge fight, did you ever think that you two were really done, over for good?" she asked timidly.

If I was nearly asleep before, I sure wasn't now. "Even though sometimes I acted like we were, I knew deep down that we weren't. Or maybe I just didn't want to accept that reality," I tried to explain. "I knew I loved Remus, and at the end of the day, I knew that even though we were fighting, I didn't want to fight with anyone else. I knew I wanted him in my life forever, even if we were fighting."

"How'd you know that he was the one?" she questioned.

I really didn't even know how to answer that one. "It's kind of hard to explain," I said. "One day I just tried to picture my future without him and it just didn't add up. I know it sounds cheesy and cliché, but if he weren't in my life there would be a part of me missing; I wouldn't be completely happy without him." Alexa didn't say anything. "Sometimes I worry that even though I know Remus is the one for me, he's going to wake up one day and maybe think that I'm not truly the one for him. With the baby and everything, the affect that it could have on our relationship scares me. It's like I know he'll always love his daughter, but what if he falls out of love with me?

"And although it's hard, I try not to think like that most of the time. I trust Remus and I just have to trust in what we have right now and hope that our love is strong enough to carry us through all the trials and struggles we are going to encounter."

After a few moments of silence and thought Alexa said, "I love you, Lyla."

"I love you too, Alex," I responded. "Goodnight."

"For the last time Alexa, I am absolutely not having a themed wedding," I said forcefully. We had all gathered in the Room of Requirement the next day after I was released from the Hospital Wing. The sun was shining through the stained glass windows and we had gathered together to, in short, plan my future. What was that old saying? 'It takes a village to raise a family.' Well, this was my village.

"Look, all I'm saying is that it would be so much easier if we had a theme and totally kick ass," Alexa argued her point, not very well I might add.

Blair shifted on her pillow and looked down at the notebook, which was now being referred to as the wedding bible. Blair had been diligently jotting down notes, noting what others were saying and her own ideas. Lord even knows what was actually in that notebook, she wouldn't let anyone see; she had officially become the 'wedding planner.'

"What theme do you have in mind, Alex?" Blair asked looking curiously at Alexa. I looked over to the four boys sitting around the circle and they looked even less interested than they did when they were in Arithmancy. I laughed slightly as James was trying to touch his tongue to his nose.

Alexa shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. Is awesome a theme?" I narrowed my eyes on Alexa and shook my head.

"Yeah, I'm with Lyla on this one, no theme," Blair said crossing something out viciously on the page in front of her. "I'm thinking fairytale with the ever so sudden undertone of modern romanticism," Blair said looking off into space as she envisioned the wedding in her mind.

"What the hell is modern romanticism?" Sirius asked, the first time any of the boys had spoken since we arrived; I think Peter was asleep.

"I honestly don't even know what we're talking about," James added looking highly confused. Blair rolled her eyes. "Why are we even here?" he asked, motioning to the other Marauders and himself. "It's not like we have a clue, and we're guys… just saying."

"James!" Blair chastised. "We are helping our dear friends plan the happiest day of their lives. And that is so old fashion to say that only girls can plan a wedding. I think what Remus wants is very crucial to the plans and I know Lyla would not want to leave him out."

"Blair, it's fine if they don't want to do this," I told her. "Honestly, if you just want to plan everything and leave me out of it, I'm fine with that too." Blair immediately started shaking her head.

"While I know it seems like I have a lot of experience in this area, this is your wedding and you both need to be involved in the planning," Blair informed me. "Now, let me look at the list of things I wrote down and we'll start checking things off the list."

Remus leaned in and whispered in my ear, "Do you really want my input on this stuff?"

I smiled and twisted my neck to look at him. "You don't have to if you don't want to, none of you do," I told him. "As far as I'm concerned, as long as you show up on the day of the wedding that's good enough for me. But, for your sake, I would just pretend like you guys care so Blair doesn't kill you." He nodded his head in total agreement, placed a kiss on my cheek and then turned back to his three friends.

"Let's just start with some simple details," Blair started, pen in hand, ready to write down my every word. "When do you want to have the wedding?"

She looked at me expectantly and it was making me feel a little anxious. "Well, I think we talked about having it in the summer before the baby gets here and while we're out of school. Maybe towards the end of July?" I suggested.

Blair looked concerned but shrugged and wrote something down. "That doesn't leave us much time, but I do some of my best work under pressure."

"I think that sounds lovely," Alexa said giving me a smile.

"Next, the color scheme," Blair said, her eyes sparkling with so much joy. "This practically defines the whole wedding. What flowers you'll have, the bridesmaids' dresses, everything. And keep in mind it's a summer wedding."

Color scheme? This was going to define my whole wedding? What if I screwed it up? I could see Blair getting a little impatient with me when I didn't answer immediately, but what she had to understand is that it took me almost two months to finally decide on a color to repaint the walls of my room. And now I had to come up with a color scheme on the spot? "Purple?" I said quietly. Blair didn't respond. "Pink?" Still no reply. "Blue?" Then Blair nodded her head skeptically.

"Bold. I like it," she said approvingly. I smiled to myself, pleased. "Of course, light shades, pastels most likely. That will be stunning. So for flowers, maybe, hydrangeas. How do you feel about hydrangeas?" she asked me. I just nodded and Blair smiled. I looked over to Alexa who rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Now, Remus this concerns you so I'm going to need you to pay attention for a bit. Do you guys have who you want your maid of honor and best man in mind?"

Remus and I looked at each other and he motioned me to go first. "Well, Blair, I love you to pieces, you know that, and obviously I want you up there with me on that altar," I started and Blair nodded her head knowingly. I turned to Alexa and looked her straight in the eyes. "Alexa, would you do me the great favor of being my maid of honor?"

Alexa's face pulled into a smirk. "Like I didn't see that coming," she said. I slapped her on her knee and shook my head. "Of course I'll be your maid of honor, I've been waiting for this for sixteen years." I grabbed her and pulled her into a grateful hug. "Love you, sis," she whispered and I squeezed her in response.

Now, it was Remus's turn. I was really curious to see whom he picked. It was going to be a hard decision and he hadn't really brought it up before. He was such good friend with all three boys it was hard to say what he was going to do. "After much thought about this," Remus began, he paused, very dramatically, "I would like it if Sirius would be my best man."

James smiled and clapped Sirius on the back. Sirius looked up from his lap slowly and looked at Remus questioningly. "You want me to be your best man?" he asked. Remus nodded. "You know there's a very high chance that I'll fuck this up in some way, right?"

"That doesn't mean you don't deserve a chance to get it right," Remus told him. "So what do you say?"

Sirius just shook his head in disbelief. "I mean, yeah, I'll do it," he said. "I'll try really hard not to screw this up," Sirius said with certainty.

Remus grabbed Sirius's shoulder and looked him right in the eyes. "I have complete faith in you."

Sirius smiled slightly and then that small smile grew to a broad grin. "You know what this means?" he asked a mischievous glint in his eyes. We all shook our heads; curious as to what he was talking about, all of us except Alexa. Alexa somehow knew exactly what he was referring to.

"Bachelor party." "Bachelorette party." Oh, Lord. I had completely forgot about that.

Alexa shared the same diabolical look that Sirius had and they were looked at each other. This was the first time that they had addressed each other in days. "My bachelorette party is going to kick your bachelor party's ass," Alexa said competitively.

Sirius scoffed. "Please, your person can't even drink, mine can, ergo, mine wins," Sirius countered.

"Oh, no he can't," I jumped in. "If Remus shows up to our wedding hung over I'm going to personally murder you," I told Sirius.

He just smiled at me. "Don't you worry your pretty little head, Lyla. Let me handle my best man duties and let your maid of honor handle hers, we've got this." Realizing he had referring to him and Alexa as a 'we', Sirius and Alexa both become uncomfortable yet again and got quiet.

"Um," Alexa said, "I have to go to the bathroom, and I'll be right back." Without another word, she got up from the floor and left. Blair gave me a look and I nodded. I was going to give her a few minutes and then go after her. It was always best to give her some time before approaching her about this kind of stuff. I looked over to Sirius who looked distraught and he was running his fingers through his hair, clearly frustrated. Blair scooted over to where James, Sirius and Peter were sitting to distract them so I could slip away without making a huge fuss.

Before I left, I turned to Remus. "So, what made you decide to pick Sirius?" I asked curiously.

Remus shrugged his shoulders. "I honestly had no clue, and I was nervous about what to do because I didn't want to hurt anybody's feelings," he said. "But, then, James came to me and told me to pick Sirius. He said that he needed something like this and that maybe if he and Alexa had to work together on the wedding and stuff maybe that would help them work through their own problems."

I looked over at James and smiled. "That James is one smart guy," I said, marveling at the love that these boys had for each other. Remus nodded and looked over to James. I placed a quick peck on Remus's lips and then quietly slipped out of the room to find Alexa.

Out in the corridor, there were a few students roaming the halls on this lazy Saturday. I made my way to the nearest bathroom, and there was Alexa leaning against a sink. I slowly walked up behind her. "It took you longer to come this time," she said mundanely. I laughed slightly at how predictable we had become. She turned around to face me.

"Are you okay?" I asked leaning up against the sink next to her.

"Yeah, I'm fine, really I am," she said brushing her bangs out of her eyes. "And I know you want to help, but I just don't want to talk about it, okay?" I nodded my head. She nodded back and then pushed off the sink. She left me in the silent bathroom and disappeared. Normally I would go after her, but she just seemed like she needed to be alone.

I let out a sigh and turned to look at myself in the mirror. My head was swimming with so many things that it was hard to even focus on my own reflection. I leaned closer to the mirror and inspected my appearance. I looked tired. I stood back and my gaze shifted south and landed on my abdomen. I turned to the side and smoothed the material of my shirt over my stomach. My shirt hid my ever-growing bump and I knew that soon I wasn't going to be able to hide it so well. I lifted my shirt up slightly and pushed my stomach out to see what it was going to look like.

The reflection of an additional person in my mirror made me jump and release my shirt. When I turned around, I saw that the person in the mirror was Bree. She looked just as surprised as I was, but she seemed to calm down and she looked at me, her eyes narrow. My heart was beating a mile a minute and I started to feel nauseas. "Hey, Lyla," she said, "What's up?"

"Oh, you know, just peeing," I said as casually as I could moving past her towards the door.

"Of course," she said knowingly, with a smile. "This is a bathroom after all." I nodded my head and gave her a weak smile. "Well, I'll talk to you later." I turned to get the hell out of there but I was stopped. "That's a cute shirt, by the way."

I looked back at Bree and I swear I just wanted to go over there and slap that smile off her face. "Thanks," I said superficially. She nodded and then faded into a stall. As I booked it back to the Room of Requirement, I suddenly had the urge to actually pee for real, but I sure as hell wasn't going back to that bathroom.

BabyBlue's Author's Note: Well, well, well. What the heck does Bree think she's doing sneaking around and following personal matters, aye? It's about to get crazy up in Hogwarts so stay tuned to the next little bit of the story. It's almost over kiddies! Never fear though, there will be a sequel for those of you who want to know how the rest of their lives play out. Have I revealed too much? **Sigh** Anyways, tell us what you think in a review or a message or whatever you fancy. Thanks for reading! And I'm working on the next chapter so it shouldn't be too long.

Peace and blessings! (Glozel style)


	39. Someone Like You

Disclaimer: Don't own it; want to own it; can't own it. Boo.

Baby Blue's Author's Note: Well, I could make excuses and tell you that I was just so overwhelmed with everything and therefore couldn't write, but that wouldn't be completely true. However, I have had a bunch due and just nothing really to say in terms of writing. Inspiration struck late at night the other day, however, and I cranked out a good half of this chapter leading to it's updating status. So, thanks to all those that made it through the wait! Also, just wanted to let you all know that after this chapter, we're going to be skipping some weeks and getting into the end of this story. That's right. As of right now we only have two more chapters planned until the SEQUEL! Whoo hoo! As much as we love this story, we're kind of ready to see it go and to start a new project. Don't worry though, the same people will be in it and they'll be just as grand as before.

Now, on another note, follow me on twitter (prongsflower) and you'll get inside knowledge, a link to our chapter images, and other such things as to when I'm updating, for what I'll be updating, and other such things.

Thanks again for sticking around long enough to read and leave us some feedback if you will; we love to hear from you all! And pleaes, forgive the typos and such, I haven't had time to really edit like I should.

Enjoy chapter 39 and have an excellent day/night.

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_Someone Like You_

_Alexa's Point of View_

"Children, please, settle down. Reach into your inner eye and let your knowledge shine through into the realm of the future!" Trelawney squawked from her perch in the middle of the classroom, her eyes magnified about three times more than normal as her glasses were once again shoved back up the bridge of her nose. I swear, she had more problems with those than James did. Sighing, I put my head in my hand and looked at the swirling mist in the crystal ball in front of me. No shapes were forming and my inner eye was not tingling as she so eloquently put it. And I once again repeated in my head; lost cause.

From my right, Lyla let out a triumphant 'hah' as she successfully produced another lumpy looking, baby pink article of 'clothing' for her unborn babe. She held it up for me to see and I smiled at her encouragingly while she went to work on what was either a very large sock or a very small hat. Either way, this kid was going to have enough homemade clothing to last her a very long time. Leaving my sister to happily continue to knit or crochet or whatever it was she was doing, I turned my head to the left while making sure that Trelawney was otherwise occupied in the front with one of the Ravenclaw's that refused to take the fact that they weren't top notch at a class. Pricks.

James, who was for once not asleep, was peering into the misty background with a furrowed brow and a look of extreme concentration on his face. He was muttering under his breath and I caught the words 'how' and 'why' an extreme amount. Sensing my curiosity coming through, I nudged him slightly with my elbow. He gave me a quick look out of the corner of his eye and then went back to staring at the crystal ball. Looking at him weirdly for a moment, I rolled my eyes and began to dig out my Arithmancy book to start on the massive amount of problems we had been given earlier that morning.

I had just started the second problem, feeling pretty good about myself, when the sighing began. The first was a small sigh that I though just meant that James was done searching for whatever it was he was looking for within the ball. The second was deeper and much longer. The third was directed towards me, so much so that my bangs, which were pushed behind my ear, fluttered. The fourth was just down right annoying.

As I noticed him opening his mouth to sigh again, I slammed my book shut and turned towards him with a fake smile on my face and my hands clasped on the desk in front of me. "James, was there something you would like to talk about?"

"Oh, well, now that you mention it, Alexa, I'd really love to talk. I mean I feel like we haven't talked in forever and what not." He smiled cheerily while leaning one elbow on the desk and turning his body to face me. "So, how's life?" The sneaky way he said it made the look on my face go blank. So James was also in on the plan that Blair had come up with; get me to open up about Sirius and I while playing concerned but happy friend.

Lyla, who stopped her furious knitting, spared us a glance for just a moment. "It's not going to work, James. She's a vault." Nodding at my thankful look, she went back to listening in on our conversation while being all happy and motherly. Which, now that I thought about it, was probably not a good thing to do in public. Unless, of course, she was ready to break it to the school that she was preggo. I mean, we'd already broken it to the gossip mill that the ring on her left hand was a promise ring from Remus so that it wasn't suspicious when she never took the damned diamond off.

Wow, bitter much, Alexa? Anyways, James, who by this point was getting fed up with my silence huffed in such a manner that he would have made Blair proud. "Well, it's just freaking stupid. I mean, Sirius stalks around and acts like a playboy without a damn care in the world and you're all false happy and nothing in the world matters." Filing away the fact that my act wasn't as good as I thought, I focused on what James had said before that.

"What do you mean that he's walking around acting like a playboy? Not that I care, I mean, we broke up so he has every right to be with whoever he wants." Seeing James's sheepish look, I felt my stomach drop as I put on a false smile and tried to control my breathing so I wouldn't start the water works. "James, is Sirius seeing someone?"

While the ebony haired boy in front of me spluttered like an idiot, Lyla reached over with one hand to smack him across the back of the head and simultaneously rub on my back soothingly with her other hand. I gave her a genuine smile in return, the action feeling weird after about a week of fake cheeriness and the blank stares whenever I was alone or no one was paying attention. No matter how much she worried, or complained about soreness or swollen ankles, she was going to be one hell of a mom.

"Alexa, I didn't mean to upset you or anything. It's just that," James paused and ran his hand through his hair multiple times, causing it to stand up like he'd just been electrocuted. "Well, I guess what I'm trying to say is that Sirius hasn't exactly been celibate." He looked at me while his head lowered as if he'd just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

I wanted to comfort him, and I wanted to tell James that it wasn't a big deal but inside at that moment, I was going insane. It felt like my nerve endings were on fire. Who was it that he was with? Why hadn't I heard about any of this? Had I been so stuck in my misery that I let this obvious information go unnoticed? And most importantly, who was the damned bint that he was messing about with? While Lyla continued to look at James like he had just thrown a bomb at me, I slid a hand over my face, thankful for the fact that everyone was distracted for a moment.

Willing away the misty feeling I had in my eyes, which was slightly ironic I thought seeing as I had been looking at mist and seen nothing all morning, I gritted my teeth until the grimace I was holding in just looked like somewhat of a natural smirk. It either worked or failed epically, but I wasn't too concerned as James and Lyla looked back at me. "So, James, I figured that eventually this would happen and I mean that's great because I'm really happy for Sirius and whoever he decides to deem appropriate as a rebound. Who's heart is the prick breaking, anyways? If you don't mind me asking, I mean." I asked with a cheery but slightly panicked and maniacal twinge in my voice.

"Al, does it really matter? I mean, your relationship with Sirius has just ended and I know you still care for him so maybe it's better if you don't get involved right now? For your own sake, love." Lyla reasoned while she put her hand on my shoulder and James looked back into the crystal ball. Trelawney was growing closer to our table and I knew that I should have stopped and let it go. I was through with Sirius. We were back to how it had been and how it was supposed to be; two separate people with mutual friends but ultimately not friends or anything ourselves. This had worked between us for a long time before we dated. It could happen again.

But telling myself that felt false and I let my emotions get the better of me as I pressed on. "Oh, I'm just having a friendly little conversation, Lyls. And James, if you're really my friend then you'll tell me right now what you know." The underlying 'or else' went without saying and James looked around nervously, torn between telling me and protecting his best friend. "Just tell me this, Potter, is it Laura? Because if you don't tell me right now I'm going to go crazy. So just tell me. I can handle it."

"Clearly not since you just threatened to go crazy on me if I don't tell you." James said warily, once again running a hand through his hair. Lyla continued to signal to us to drop it as Trelawney stopped at the table next to us while surreptitiously listening to our teenage angst. "And I agree with Lyla on this one, Alex, you don't really need to know."

"Don't need to know? And why would that be, James, Lyla? Because he's screwing around with that bint who is one of the contributing factors of why we broke up? Or because you're protecting me from my feelings? Because let me tell you right now, these feelings aren't going to go away just because I want them to." Realizing my voice had risen and I had caught the attention of most of the people in the classroom, I bit my lip and realized that I had just made a fool of myself and said some really dumb things that I didn't want people knowing in the first place.

To make it worse, Trelawney chose that exact moment to step in. "Ms. Parker, I saw something just like this the other day in my crystal ball. I always knew that you were going to experience grave misfortune once Spring came. Is everything alright, dear?" Taking a deep breath and looking at my bat shit crazy teacher, I tried to contain myself but couldn't as I clenched my hands into fists.

"Listen, Trelawney, I don't give a flying shit what you saw in that damned crystal ball of yours. And what the hell do you think? Of course everything isn't all right. It hasn't been for a while. Also, you're insane and if I have to sit here for another minute pretending life is all peaches and cream I'm going to go fucking nuts on the place. So, thanks for nothing." She watched me shocked while Lyla put a hand to her mouth, torn between amusement and disappointment. Turning to James as I swung my bag onto my shoulder, I gave him a sad smile. "And thanks for letting me know once and for all that my relationship with Sirius really is over. I'll show myself out."

Before I could make a bigger arsehole of myself or cause any more damage (or be asked to leave the classroom), I gathered my robes from the floor and balled them up while shoving them into my bag as I made my way to the hallway and down the ladder out of the perfumed room and incensed air. As I hit clean air, I breathed deeply and tried to ignore the sting of tears behind my eyes. Opening my lids and blinking away the wetness that lingered there, I hauled my bag higher on my shoulder while tucking my falling layers behind my ears.

Making my way down the multiple winding staircases that would take me to the multiple floors of Hogwarts, I decided that I should probably go ahead and start off towards Dumbledore's office since I'm sure he'd hear about my indiscretions soon enough. Stuck inside my head as it were, I didn't notice that someone was standing in front of me until they cleared their throat. Looking up, I nodded at the person before side stepping them and muttering a 'sorry' quickly before I tried to get away. The sudden hand on my arm holding me back told me otherwise, however, and I stopped reluctantly before turning back around.

"What?" I asked while he looked at me with saddened eyes. I lessened my glare slightly before loosening the tension in my shoulders. He dropped my hand once he realized that I wasn't going to bolt and stood looking at me for a moment. "What do you want, Caradoc?" I questioned again without the bite in my tone and he shrugged quickly before he opened his mouth.

"I just wanted to say sorry. I was out of line. The whole situation was so messed up. I was drunk, you were there, I just keep letting Sirius and everything he does get under my skin. And this time it got out of hand." I looked at him skeptically, and he shoved his hands deep into the pocket of his robes. "I'm just sorry, Alexa. Somehow you're always in the middle of it."

Rolling my eyes, I shrugged off his apology. "Yeah, well, somehow you keep ruining my relationships. Why don't I believe you? I wouldn't doubt it if you were freaking in on this huge conspiracy with Calloway. That'd be freaking the icing on the cake wouldn't it?" I turned to walk away again but he stopped me once again. Giving him my best glare, I waited for him to continue.

"What do you mean? What did Laura do to make you think that I was in 'league' with her or whatever it is you're on about now?" The look on his face was confused, but I didn't let it fool me. I was so tired of falling for his shit all the damn time.

"Like you don't already know. She broke up Sirius and I. The whole reason I was out here in the first place was because of she and Sirius. And you, coming up to me after the party? Just happening to be there and just happening to have Sirius see us kiss? I'm to believe all that was just a coincidence too, huh? That you and Laura haven't planned this all along?" I was getting upset and the accusations and thoughts that I had been having since before Easter all came flooding out as Caradoc stood and looked at me like I was crazy.

After my crazy outburst, we stood in the corridor, silence closing in on us from either side. And then Caradoc laughed; the cruel and condescending tone sending my hair standing on end. "You really think all of that is true, don't you? That you're so important to everyone that we'd all go to great pains to ruin your life?"

"Well, isn't it true? You've tried to ruin me before. And look at what you did to Sirius. You could have killed him, Caradoc." I said while crossing my arms over my chest. It was Caradoc's turn to roll his eyes at me and he did so before turning slightly to walk back down the hallway.

"You know what, Alexa, I came here to say sorry to you. Sorry that you and Sirius broke up, sorry that I was a cause in part of it, sorry that Sirius and I fought. But I'm starting to think that maybe you don't deserve it. Maybe you don't deserve anyone." He turned to leave, making me angrier as his form retreated until he turned slightly. "Have you ever thought about why none of your relationships work out? It's not me or Sirius or anyone else. It's you, Alexa. You cause your own hardships. Have you ever thought that maybe you're just unlovable?"

He disappeared from sight as I stood completely still, his words resonating through me as if I had been physically hit with them. Did I really ruin all the relationships I had? (Unlovable) Was I so selfish that I didn't deserve to have anyone in my life? (Unlovable) Instead of blaming Laura and Caradoc and Sirius should I have really been blaming myself? (Unlovable)

Unlovable.

_Unlovable._

I let my bag fall from my shoulder, the tinkling of the inkpots being matted by my robes as I sat down along the wall of the corridor. My legs curled underneath where I sat, my hands sat limp in my lap, and I tilted my head down trying to comprehend everything. But the only word I could think of was 9 letters of pure hell. I'd never been called unlovable before, but was it true?

Sitting in the hall for about ten more minutes before there were footsteps echoing through the halls, I repeated the word over and over in my head until there were two pairs of feet in front of me; one considerable smaller, and the ankles more swollen, than the other. Following the legs up the torso and to the faces of my sister and one of my best guy friends, I wiped at the stickiness on my cheeks, realizing that I had been crying. James gathered me up into a squeezing hug while Lyla picked my bag off the ground and handed it back to me.

When I was situated, I sniffled and looked between the two of them honestly needing to know the answer to the burning question and praying they would take this seriously. "Am I unlovable?" I croaked out before collapsing into quiet but shaking tears once again. I felt Lyla lower me to the ground once more as she put her arm around me and drew me towards her, crying into my older sister's chest as she stroked my hair and murmured that I was perfectly lovable.

James sat next to us; one hand on my knee like an older brother as he told me a person would be a fool not to love me. And even though these two people, who were declaring that I was being silly for feeling like I was, surrounded me I had never felt so empty in my life.

After a few minutes more of tears leaking from my eyes at a very fast pace, I allowed Lyla to transfigure a leaf of parchment into a tissue for me. Drying my eyes and taking James's outstretched hand, we made our way down the rest of the corridor towards the Great Hall instead of the Headmasters, James saying that Trelawney just said she had predicted this and then had moved on, not mentioning anything about sending me to Dumbledore.

Just as I thought the day was going to start looking up, James pushed the door to the Great Hall open and the sight that met my eyes made me slow to a halt. Sitting next to Sirius at the Gryffindor table, some ebony haired girl put her hand on his upper arm while whispering in his ear. As I watched, he wrapped an arm around her slim waist, nuzzling his nose into her neck. I could still feel the ghost of that touch on my own neck, almost as if the pressure of his long fingers were wrapped into my side as well. Blair and Remus watched from the other side of the table, looking like deer in headlights while fervently glancing between the couple in front of them and us, standing in the middle of the hall.

"Al, we're starting to attract some attention. You need to gather up all that Gryffindor courage and march yourself over to the table like nothing's wrong." Looking at Lyla with wide eyes, I began to shake my head, feeling my ponytail slap my ears as I shook. "No, no, you can do it. I promise you. And if you want to get better than you will do this. Like you told us, if you don't think you and Sirius can be together than you need to go back to the way things were."

Seeing it was a lost cause with Lyla, I turned my watering green eyes to James who looked down at me while rubbing his neck uncomfortably. Then with a sigh, he nudged me forward with a hand on my back. Digging my trainers into the stone floor, I began to struggle in earnest now as my breathing came faster. "Wait, wait, let me fix myself appropriately." I begged; it worked as they stopped again and I straightened my shirt, pulling my sweater down and rolling my sleeves up about halfway. Then with a deep calming breath, I began to walk forward on my own.

I could see Blair start talking a mile a minute as we neared, and I made my way to the side of the table that she was sitting on so I wouldn't have to sit directly next to Sirius and, well, whoever she was. "So, I told Binns that he was crazy and he didn't respond. That's when I realized that it was all a dream and I was just being silly. Oh, hey guys, what took you so long?" Blair smiled nervously at us, the brown in her eyes being replaced as her pupils widened and she fiddled with her fork, tapping it against her plate. James sat heavily next to Sirius and leaned across the table to peck Blair on the cheek, while I took my spot next to Remus with Lyla beside me.

The two expecting parents both patted me on the back inconspicuously while I began to pour myself some juice and chose to answer Blair's question. "Just got held up in Trelawney's class, you know how she is?" I said while smiling tightly. Grabbing a roll, I tried so hard to ignore Sirius who was doing a spot on job at avoiding looking in my vicinity.

It was silent until the girl sitting next to him spoke up. "I always kind of thought Trelawney was a nut job." Her voice was lilting, and I looked up quickly noticing just how piercing her blue eyes were and just how pretty she was as well. Realizing that she was a seventh year Gryffindor that was probably the Lily Evans of her class, I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. So, he was replacing me with a girl that was probably marriage material. And who was my rebound? Looking back down at my plate as the others began to make small talk, I didn't realize that I was crying until I felt James lightly tap my shin with his foot.

Finding his hazel eyes from across the table, I gritted my teeth against the inevitable drawing in of a quick staggering breath and blinked hard to stop my tears. I could and would do this. If we were going to go back to how things were before this, than I would do it. All I needed to do was dye my hair back and stop being such a cry-baby, draw from his stupid actions for my anger, and basically ignore his presence except for some snide comments here or there. And if he got to have fun, the by Merlin, I was going to have some of my own fun as well.

As if on cue, I noticed Gideon Prewitt (the brother that wasn't attached to Marlene at the hip) getting up from his lunch and walking towards the door. Interrupting James, who was relaying something about the Quidditch game that was happening this Saturday, which was also the loser's seventeenth birthday, which he wouldn't shut up about for even a moment, I pulled my bag off the ground and pushed my untouched plate towards the center of the table. "I've got," Looking at everyone, I searched for the right words. "Something to do. I'll see you in Herbology, James. Bye."

With their strange looks watching me, I hurried out of the Great Hall after the Prewitt brother. "Gid! Gideon!" I called after him and he slowed up while turning around. A smile graced his peach colored lips as I came closer. "How've you been?" I asked while looking up at him with my attempt at a coy smile.

"Little Parker," He said with some suspicion as I rocked back on my heels and put my clasped hands behind my back. "Not too bad; Quidditch game Saturday but other than Potter's insane practices, I'm good." Grabbing his arm loosely, I laughed slightly and we started walking again.

"You know James, he's insane most of the time. With Quidditch, he just goes insane." He nodded along with only a slight glance at my hand on his arm and before he could question me, I propositioned him. "So, if you're not going anywhere, walk me to Herbology? I usually go with James but he and Blair were being all lovey-dovey and I don't want to walk alone." Pulling out my almost full-proof puppy dog eyes (that admittedly I had learned from Sirius; ignore that fact), I bit into my lip a little and watched his resolve crumble.

"Alright, Alexa, I can walk you there. I've got a free anyways." Acting very excited I tightened my hold a little on his arm, making sure it was obvious that he was walking me to class and that I was comfortable being so close to him after what people had deemed one of the worst break-ups in Hogwarts history. Feeling slightly bad about using him, I talked about everything under the sun while he listened and laughed along with me at times. When we neared the greenhouses, I gave him a swift hug, thanking him loudly for everyone gathered outside to hear.

As he gave me a raised eyebrow but shook off our encounter and began to walk away, I took in a deep breath to quell the feelings that I was having. If all went well, the rumor that we were hanging out and that I could care less about what Sirius was doing would circulate quickly and with me not saying anything to quell the rumors and Gideon not paying attention anyways, I wouldn't look like the pathetic ex that I really was.

Before I could start to ignore the feelings completely, however, I caught a look from Lily Evans, who was shaking her head at me. As I passed her on the way in, I tried my best to roll my eyes and look bitchy. "Shut up, Evans, you don't know shit." Sighing to myself, I walked like I didn't have a care in the world. I guess the old Alexa 'take no shit from anyone while remaining unaffected' Parker was back.

* * *

"Shots!" Was the first thing I heard when I made my way out of the dorm and down the stairs to the Quidditch/James's Birthday party. The mass of bodies in the middle of the Common Room where the 'dance floor' had been resurrected swayed and moved almost as one and I rolled my eyes and made my way towards the boy standing in the center of it all. As someone knocked into me from the side, I raised my eyebrows in a questioning manner before straightening out the dark purple ruffled tank top that I had on. Luckily for the person and everyone involved, nothing was spilled on me this time.

Moving my way through the bodies and receiving a few glares as I pushed my way through, I finally ended up in front of James who was sloppily pouring alcohol into the waiting shot glasses in front of him. Feeling a bit of the clear liquid hit my toes through my sneakers, I laughed slightly as James looked at my empty hands where he had just poured alcohol.

"Ms. Parker, who looks dashing by the way, why do you not have a glass of the small variety in your waiting hands?" James asked, not really wanting a question as he had already moved on, telling Sirius's mini-me, Drew, to fetch him another glass. Rolling my eyes at his antics, but allowing it because it was his birthday, I took the cool glass from Drew and gave him a smile and a thank you.

"What are we toasting to, Jam-Jam?" I asked while looking at my sister who was holding out a shot glass as well. James made a sound of protest towards his nickname but I waved him off while posing my second question. "And why is Lyla taking shots?" My added question was greeted with a laugh from my sister while Remus held out a champagne bottle that had 'sparkling cider' written across the side. Making an 'oh' face, I nodded towards James to continue as Blair giggled loudly when he swayed slightly.

Feeling someone shuffle in next to me, I glanced out of the corner of my eye to see Sirius run a hand through his disheveled hair and hold his other hand out for another glass. All while this was happening; I studiously ignored the lipstick that was smudged along his jaw. "To little James Potter. Finally joining those of elite few of us who are of legal age." He pretended to wipe a tear off his cheek while Blair, Remus, and I made huffing noises.

Answering Sirius's toast, we all took the shot with varying results. Blair started to gasp for air while taking to grabbing onto James's arm with enough force to have him wincing and shuddering from not just the alcohol burn. Remus choked slightly from beside me, while Lyla, who was perfectly fine, tapped him on the back. I fought my gag reflex with as much pride as I could muster, keeping my mouth closed and lips pursed. And Sirius, laughed at all of us while sticking his tongue out to show he was making fun of us.

Feeling the need to get him back after I knew I wasn't going to puke everywhere, and deciding that if I was going to act like everything had never happened I needed to step up my skills, I adjusted my flowy black skirt and tapped my own jaw. "You've got a bit of," I said with what I hoped to be an evil voice as I smiled sweetly at Sirius. His hand went to his face while our friends held their breath. When he realized what I was doing, aka trying to embarrass him, he smirked and raised an eyebrow looking down at me.

"Jealous, Lexi?" He asked using that infuriating nickname that he hadn't used since at least October and I heard Blair mutter something like 'low blow' as Remus looked furtively for any sign that I was about to attack Sirius. In my mind, I was reeling, wanting to smack him and kiss him and cry, but on the outside I just smiled myself.

Tossing my hair over my shoulder, I turned towards him fully. "Oh, Sirius, you wish." I said and just like that, I walked away towards the group of people playing Knuts over in the corner. As soon as I was far enough away, I looked back over my shoulder to Lyla and Blair who were looking like they were torn between coming after me and making sure that James was having a good time as he and Remus conversed. Sending them a wink and proudly noting that Sirius was nowhere to be seen, I turned back around before stopping short as someone stepped in front of me.

"Bree." I said while trying to take a step around my backstabbing and sometimes still normal friend. She grabbed my arm, holding me in place, before I could get away. My eyes widened of their own accord, but she didn't let go of me as I was pulled along over to one of the couches and sat down. Watching her warily, I didn't let my guard down as she sat next to me and put her folded hands in her jean-covered lap.

Finally, when she did look up at me, her murky blue eyes were slightly glazed with tears. Slightly alarmed, I looked around for any way out but she had already started talking. "I heard about you and Sirius. That girl Laura had no right to do what she did and I'm really sorry that it happened to you." I nodded slightly while watching as she swiped under her eyes to catch any tears that had fallen. Not really understanding why she was crying or why I felt so unsettled as I watched her, I tried to stand but was once again stopped.

"Bree, look, I understand that you said I could talk to you and that you are sorry. But when I wrote you that letter before Easter I was just writing to tell you that you weren't on my hit list anymore. I don't know what's wrong with you and, frankly, I don't want to know. You and I aren't friends; we're not going to be friends. So whatever's wrong, you need to tell someone else because I can't help you." She looked up at me through tears and I bit my lip, wondering once again if I had been too harsh on this girl. Even though she had stabbed me in the back numerous times, all over stupid things, and sold me out to the girl that was hell bent on destroying us, my emotions were pulling me towards the girl I had spent five years with being her friend.

"Alexa, I'm so, so sorry." She wept while putting her face in her hands, and that's when I noticed that the tears, the crying, weren't real. I had seen this act before, pulled it myself whenever we were in a fight, and I knew the cues. "I'm sorry too, Bree." I said before once again standing and turning on my heel; this time not being stopped.

Figuring it was safe to make my way back over to the drink table and fix myself another drink, I began the hassle of fighting the crowd. Just as I was reaching the table and about to pour what James called 'sour pus lemonade' I heard someone's decidedly male voice call my name over the din. Taking a drink and pursing my lips at the sourness of the drink, I looked around before seeing Gideon making his way towards me, his blue eyes dark, red hair looking like fire.

"Hey, Gid," I said with a bright smile as a few people around took one look at us and began to talk none too quietly about the two of us. Catching the words, 'seeing someone' and 'couple' being thrown around, I hid my smirk. The rumor mill of Hogwarts was all too easy and predictable. "What's going on?"

Running his hand through his flaming hair, he kept his hand on his neck as he continued to tower over me. "Lexa,' have you noticed that people have been talking about us lately; as in we're dating?" He smiled at me and I let my eyes go wide in mock-surprise.

"Really? Where'd they get that idea?" I asked feigning interest when in reality this had been my plan all along. Finally, something going right in my no-longer-relationship with Sirius. Gideon, however, just raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest. Sighing, he took my dangling hand and pulled me over to a more quiet section of the party. I felt eyes on us as everyone began to wonder what was going on between us and the rumors swirled anew.

"I know this isn't the beginnings of a relationship but I'm willing to help you and won't do anything to quell the rumors because I know you're still in love with Sirius." Gideon said quickly before I could open my mouth to ask him what he was doing. This time I really did stand in shock as he smiled genuinely and put his hands on my shoulders. "You can't really fool too many people if they take the time to actually look in your eyes. You're hurting, and not doing too grand of a job at hiding that fact."

Releasing me from his hold, I crossed my arms and clasped my elbows with my hands. "That obvious, huh?" His knowing nod made me respect the seventh year boy even more and suddenly I felt like a petty little girl for dragging him into this. "I didn't think before I started this, you know? Sirius was eating lunch with this girl and she was perfect and I got jealous and I know we're not together but something just snapped." Gripping my hands tighter, I forced myself to stop rambling.

"I know how you have to feel. When you love someone and they're moving on, you can't really control the flush of emotions you're feeling." His eyes were kind as he gathered me into a hug. I breathed deeply, wishing once again that I hadn't fallen so deeply for Sirius and that I could get over him the same way he'd gotten over me. "Just don't let him get to you. Be the person you want to be and don't let him define that no matter how he acts. Because he's a player, Alexa; you may have changed that for awhile, but you can't change him forever."

I held onto him for just a moment longer before letting go and nodding my head. "Thanks, Gideon, for not being mad and for the advice." I went to maneuver myself around the party, and towards where I saw James trying to get people into some sort of synchronized dance, when I felt a hand on my elbow. I was about to sigh deeply until I realized that it was still Gideon and not another run in with Bree or someone that I wasn't looking to deal with again.

"You didn't just assume I didn't get anything out of this deal, right?" He asked and at my raised brows he let out a laugh. "Not like that, pervy. I just want a dance partner for the next song." I laughed and took his hand, allowing him to lead me out to the dance floor where we squeezed into some miniscule space and started to dance. As the bass pounded in my ears and what felt like my blood, I let my body do its own thing and tried to drift away to the music.

When the song morphed into something slower, I pushed my slightly sweaty bangs off my forehead and looked up to face Gideon who was grinning. Rolling my eyes, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders while tiptoeing as his hands came to rest around my waist in a very 'friends only' manner. Resting my cheek against his chest, I let him take the lead as I looked around the dance floor. Remus and Lyla were swaying together, him holding her gently like she was a china doll as the sappy look on her face made even the person with the biggest sweet-tooth ache. James and Blair were doing some sloppy version of a slow dance, stopping every few minutes to giggle and then kiss like no one else was in the room.

As we spun around, I tried to tell myself that I wasn't watching to see if Sirius was out on the floor with someone and every time I saw that it wasn't him wrapping some other girl up in a tight embrace I couldn't help but feel my heart calm down. However, when I did eventually spot him, he was over playing knuts with the other Prewitt brother, surrounded by his adoring fans and looking just as happy as he ever was.

The song once again seamlessly morphed into some bass thumping, crazy dance song and I dropped my hands from Gideon's shoulders as the crowd pushed us apart. He gave me a short wave as I was almost carried away by the tidal wave that was the dance floor. Ending up at the bottom of the boy's staircase, I sat down a little ways up so I could people watch.

I had been sitting for about ten minutes, swirling a drink cup that James's mini-me had gotten for me, when Lyla appeared beside me. She sat down with a yawn and put her hand on her lower stomach with a happy little smile. "Where's Reems, sister mine?" I asked putting my cup down on the stair below us and turning towards my beaming sister.

"Oh, he's getting James and Blair. James almost toppled a tower of chairs that he and Sirius had been building earlier for no reason, so we figured it'd be a good time for all of us to just hang out." She twirled her hair around her finger and then sighed while looking out amongst the slightly waning crowd. Some girl tanked off a couch and the crowd cheered as she stood up and literally cackled. "Besides, this party is about to get broken up and I'd rather not be in the middle of that when it happens."

Looking at the watch on my sister's left arm, I nodded in agreement. "Two o'clock in the morning is probably as good a stopping point as any." I finished my sentence just as Blair came skipping up to us, a smile on her face and her bun drooping down as hair fell out to messily frame her face. "Everyone's just so happy lately, aren't they?" I asked as she took a seat on Lyla's other side, resting her head against the banister.

"Classes are winding down, it's James's birthday, and the weather is starting to warm up. Plus we just won _another_ Quidditch match. Why wouldn't we be happy?" Blair said through a yawn and I smiled myself as I looked at my friends that surrounded me. She was right, of course, and I shrugged as James, Remus, and Sirius walked towards us. They expertly dodged their adoring fans before appearing in front of us.

"Our dorm, or yours?" Remus asked cheekily while holding out a hand to Lyla and helping her up from her spot. Blair cranked her thumb over her back, pointing towards the boy's dorms as she began to race up the stairs, James quick on her tail, and I took Remus's other extended hand as we all walked more calmly in their wake. As Lyla and Sirius walked a few steps ahead of us, literally, I felt Remus's gaze on me as I walked quietly.

"Don't even ask, Remus." I said when I saw his mouth open from the corner of my eyes. He held up a hand in surrender and I elbowed him lightly while turning my head slightly towards him so I could talk and not trip up the stairs. "I'm going to be perfectly fine. Plus, what's there to be sad about?" Smiling under his piercing stare, I came up short before I could crash into Lyla who had stopped to answer the 'password' that James was insisting.

As the newest 17 year old of the group stood as intimidating as he could manage in his slightly drunken state in front of his door, Lyla stood with her hands on her hips, her baby bump slightly showing as she adopted her stern mother tone. "Just answer the password, Lyls."

"James," She started before sighing deeply. "The password is Magnificent Creature." Her voice was deadly but James seemed to thoroughly enjoy her answer as he clapped his hands and allowed us inside.

"What was the question?" I asked as we were ushered in and were made to sit on the pillows that had been charmed into a circle on the (surprisingly clean) floor.

Sirius laughed slightly as he sat across from me on a big maroon blanket. "Something about two words to describe the 'wonderful' James Potter." I laughed as well as the man in question sat down to my right and began to snap for everyone's attention. Seeing as he already had our attention, and there were only six of us, he stopped snapping pretty soon after he realized he was being insane.

"Oh," He said and then smiled his patented 'everyone is paying attention to me and I have nothing to really say' smiles. "Let's play truth or truth!"

"It's truth or dare, James." Blair said from her spot on his other side. She was leaning heavily backwards, wrapped in a blanket cocoon and looking like she was about to fall asleep sitting up. I nodded along with Blair while Sirius looked bored and Lyla laid down, settling her head in Remus's lap.

James, who looked severely put out, looked to Remus for support seeing as everyone else seemed to be ignoring him. "It's my birthday, and I shall do what I want." He said when he got naught but crickets from his other Marauder. Tapping him on his shoulder with a pillow, more like hitting him slightly, I shrugged my shoulders and tried to hold my laughter at his outraged face. "It's actually Sunday morning and thus it is no longer your birthday."

"Have I ever told you that you're dead to me, Alexa?" I smiled brightly at him, having heard the same words numerous times from his mouth before and it not affecting me in the slightest.

"Let's just give the boy what he wants, shall we? And avoid the fight that would be to follow." Lyla said sleepily from Remus's lap. Agreeing with my sister, we all looked towards James for direction. As he began to come down from his drunken high, he folded his legs Indian style and laid his hands on his knees.

"Alright then, the only rule is that you have to tell the truth no matter the question. Any questions?" He paused and looked at us. No one was really paying attention and I leaned back a little further on my cushion so I could maybe fall asleep without having to play this game, which promised to be a disaster. James's loud voice, however, proved that that was not going to be happening. "Good then, I guess I'll go first. James, what was the best part about your birthday?"

Exchanging a look with Blair who was watching her boyfriend like he was crazy for asking himself his own question, I saw Sirius sit up straighter as he watched James. "Now, James, watch what you say here please. Remember that we are all in company and may not need or want to know the answer."

James scoffed and patted Sirius heavily on the back, "Come now, Pads, I'm not going to go and tell everyone of the Order. That'd betray Dumbledore's trust." Lyla and Sirius both yelled out James, while the boy in question covered his mouth and looked at Blair, Remus, and I who were now intrigued. "Forget I said that. Please, just don't mention it." He pleaded but it was too late. Now we were curious.

"Oh, no, James. Your only rule was that you had to tell the truth. And now that it's out we want the truth. Obviously it's a good secret if Lyla and Sirius are in on it." Blair said while sitting up and folding her arms across her chest from where she sat.

Putting my elbows on my knees and leaning forward, I looked at James and nodded my head. "Seeing as the last secret they all knew about was Lyla's pregnancy, I figure this is on par with that too isn't it?" Lyla was looking at me and shaking her head, begging me to drop the subject but it was too late now. "Sirius, truth or truth?" I asked knowing that even though we were no longer together he wouldn't lie to me again.

"Truth." The ebony haired boy said with a long sigh and a hand raking through his hair. Smiling for the first time since James had opened his mouth, Remus asked the question for me. "What is the 'Order' and what do you, James, and Lyla have to do with it?"

"The order is a society that Dumbledore started to round up the so-called 'Death Eaters,'" He used quotations around these two words and I racked my brain for a definition to put with the word. I vaguely recalled seeing or hearing about it somewhere, but I wasn't exactly sure what he was talking about. "And to help both muggles and magical alike when dealing with this Voldemort character. It's a secret group and believe me when I say none of you are allowed to tell."

The look on his face was deadly enough that Remus, Blair, and I all nodded along; he had even scared James into a nod as well even though the boy had already broken the rule and knew what it was anyways. "So, Dumbledore asked you all to join, then?" Blair asked and the three of them nodded.

"I suppose that's pretty legitimate, if you ask me. But what exactly is a Death Eater and who the hell is Voldemort?" I asked because unlike my cultured friends, I had had bigger things on my mind over the past few weeks that I wasn't really paying attention to the media.

"Voldemort and his followers are all dark wizards intent on the 'purification' of the wizarding race. This means the killing of muggles, half-bloods, muggle-born, and all those deemed 'unfit.'" Lyla said looking at us all in turn. James and Sirius were the only purebloods of our groups but Sirius was a blood traitor and James and his family, while successful, sided with the side that would take up for the muggles. In short, we were all screwed.

The mood turned somber in the room and I felt my heart speed up a little as the reality of what was happening outside of the castle walls was taking place. My Gran, my aunt, people that I knew could be killed without a second though. "That's genocide," I whispered, thinking about the history books my cousin Monica had brought around once that told of the horrific killing of Jews by a man named Hitler that sounded a lot like this Voldemort man.

"I want to join," Came the somewhat surprising statement from Blair. She was looking resolutely at James, gauging his reaction and almost right away he sobered up. "Not until you're seventeen and not until I know exactly how bad it is. You could get killed, Blair."

"But others are going to get killed if we don't join," She countered back. He had nothing to say after that and the silence echoed through the room as James and Blair had a stare down. "Lyla joined and she's pregnant."

"For the record, I didn't know my future wife and mother of my child had joined." Remus interjected but no one paid him any attention. Feeling the awkwardness rise, I stood up and made my way into the bathroom, not sure if I could handle the weight of the situation anymore. I wasn't set up for this; never had I been the one to fight for a cause. I went with the flow so I didn't have to pick sides in fights unless it was for my friends. But now, people were dying and I was too stuck up on my personal life.

Splaying my palms on the cold counter, I took a deep breath and felt my face flame up in embarrassment. I felt so selfish. The door creaked open behind me and I closed my eyes, not wanting to really explain how I was feeling to anyone. "You've got a while to make the decision, Alexa. You won't be seventeen until next December." I was startled as I looked up and saw Sirius through the reflection in the mirror.

"And in the meantime? My sister and my best friends are going to be out fighting and possibly dying?" Turning around, I crossed my arms and looked at him as he slumped against the doorway. We kept our distance and no matter how messed up it was, I felt good knowing he was near me even if we weren't touching.

"Dumbledore said we wouldn't be doing any fighting for awhile. The war is still far off. For now it's just meetings and raising the morale of those who have been affected. And we'll be safe. I promise." He said, and then taking a few steps forward, he put his hands on my shoulders and looked down at me. I was almost forced to face him and I looked up at his stormy gray eyes. "On my watch, nothing is going to happen to any of you."

I nodded, still feeling scared but slightly safer. He let go of me, and I hopped up on the counter as the voices were raised in the next room. "Where did Lyla and Remus go as World War Three breaks out between James and Blair?" I asked casually while looking down at my swinging feet. My shoes hung loosely from my toes and Sirius leaned back against the doorway.

"They went up to the girl's dorms to give them some privacy. I think they were having their own discussion." He said while sighing and concentrating on something over my shoulder. We sat/stood stiffly, not being sure what to say now that we were together and out of the public eye. I was about to open my mouth to excuse myself when Sirius stopped me. "Alexa, can I ask you a question?"

"You just did, but sure." I said with a smile, not being able to resist the joke. He smiled slightly, a twitch of his lips upwards but then he was back to a contemplative face.

"It may be overstepping my bounds but I wanted to ask." I nodded and he popped his fingers as he thought over what he was going to say. Waiting in anticipation, I watched him as he scratched his neck and then looked me straight in the eyes. "Are you and Gideon Prewitt hanging out?"

Startled, I stopped swinging my feet and met his eyes. He looked conflicted; part of him wanting to know the answer, the same part that didn't want to let go yet, and another part of him not wanting to know, ready to let go of everything that once was. Sighing, I tossed my head to the side slightly to rid myself of my fringe. "No, Sirius, we aren't. What about you and the girl from lunch?" I countered and I held my breath as he answered.

"No, uhm, I'm not seeing anyone." He began to make his way closer to me and I waited with bated breath as he stood only a breath away. I could tell he was warring with himself, the same way I always was with my emotions. I wanted to cry, scream, hit him, tell him to get lost, but I sat still as a statue while his hand came up to rest against my cheek. I couldn't help myself as I leaned into his palm and his lips parted as he looked over my face.

"Sirius?" I questioned when we sat in the statuesque position for a minute, neither of us daring to move. He seemed startled that I had spoken and in an almost whisper he said, "I just wanted to keep you safe, Alexa." I closed my eyes as the warmth left my face and he took a step back. "I'm sorry, but I've got to go."

He backed up until he was at the door and I watched him walk out of the bathroom. Jumping down from the counter after a moment of silence, I turned the water on and quickly splashed my face with coldness to get rid of my splotchy cheeks from the embarrassment, worry, and almost encounter with Sirius. Then gathering myself quickly, I walked out of the bathroom with what was left of my dignity.

The lights were off and the curtains closed around all the beds. A light from the window illuminated the clock hanging on the wall, indicating that it was about four in the morning. Sighing, I made my way out of the boy's dorm and to my own, changing into my pajamas and falling into bed to contemplate the night's events, knowing that in the morning things would once again be different.

* * *

"What was that all about?" Lyla asked as Bree walked away from where we were sitting that next Tuesday at breakfast. She hadn't really done anything, just smiled, said hello, and then was on her way. Except that was what was so weird about it. Bree wasn't friendly with us; we kept our distances from each other, no trying to start another war that was sure to end in tears and baldness again. Shrugging, I continued to make my toasted bread, eggs, and bacon sandwich.

Blair, who had been watching the whole exchange from over her magazine, set the paper down and put her chin on her hand. "It just seems weird doesn't it? She hasn't tried to do anything to us, yet, but she hadn't been around that much until now."

"Yeah, well, rather her than Laura right?" I asked a bit bitterly as I took a bite of my food. Lyla's eyes narrowed as she looked at me. It was obvious, however, that she was watching Bree from her post near the middle of the table talking to some of the fifth year girls she had as her minions. "Just leave it alone, guys. She apologized to me the other night at James's party. And while I realize that it's stupid to forgive her, which I haven't done yet," I amended after seeing their outraged faces, "She hasn't done anything to make me hate her again. Besides, I have other things to worry about."

Motioning down towards my Transfiguration things that were spread in front of me, I took another bite and flipped another page. Since Sirius and I had broken up, we hadn't been having tutoring sessions lately and I was starting to worry about my grade as the year was coming to a close and final exams came up. "There's only a month until exams, right, Alexa?" Blair asked while pointing to her magazine, which was emblazoned with the days date. Startled, I took a closer look not believing that it could be April 25th already.

"If I knew what this was saying, I might actually pass. How is it that I only fail at Transfiguration? One of the most basic things a wizard should know and I'm screwing it up royally." Sighing, I slammed my book shut and got ready to go to class, which ironically was Transfiguration. Joy. Nodding at my sister and my best friend, I started to walk towards the front of the Great Hall before someone caught up with me.

"Alex, I couldn't help but notice that little exchange up there with our good pal, Bree." James said as he fell into step next to me, his bag banging against his hip with a clattering noise that I knew from experience couldn't be good. Either he was planning a major prank with that stuff or he had just shattered about a hundred inkwells, neither was really a pleasant thought. "Anything going on that you need help with." He patted his bag conspiratorially and I rolled my eyes in answer. So it was pranking material.

"James, she hasn't done anything. I swear, you and Lyla have some sort of vendetta against this girl still. If you want to do me a solid get back at Laura." Stifling a slight frown, James nodded and then opened the door to the classroom for me. As we walked in and took our seats, me in front of him at the desks slightly caddy-cornered to the rest of the room, he made a weird noise in the back of his throat. Turning in my seat, I gave him a weird look as a few more students made their way into the classroom. They paid us no attention and James leaned in towards me.

"I know you said it wasn't that big of a deal, but you haven't seen Laura around any lately right? And yet, Bree has been hanging out a lot more, am I right?" He looked around in time to see Remus and Lyla walk in as Blair chatted on animatedly while Sirius tried to act interested but could clearly not tell anyone what Blair had said for the last twenty minutes.

Sighing, I whispered quickly to James trying to finish the conversation before we could alert anyone else to his insaneness. "I wouldn't hang about either if I had just broken a very vengeful girl and her boyfriend up. Now, stop with the theorizing. Nothing is going on."

"What's going on?" Lyla asked as she took her seat next to me and Remus and Sirius sat in front of us. Blair continued to stand at the boy's table instead of taking her seat and Remus patted Sirius on the shoulder while Blair finished their one-way conversation.

"James here thinks there's a reason behind Bree's sudden reappearance in our life." I said with a sigh, and Lyla's eyes lit up and she began to engage James in conversation regarding this stupid as hell matter. Honestly, it seemed like everyone around me was going crazy in some way or another. Just as I was about to tell them they needed to drop it, McGonagall walked in swiftly, sending papers at us with a flick of her wand.

"If you will all take a look at your graded essays you will see your grade. I hope all are satisfied. And as for those of you that are not," I felt her eyes on me as I looked down at my essay. The blood seemed to drain from me, leaving me feeling like shit. Just like my essay. "I suggest that you hop on board with the lessons or fail the class. Now," She continued talking and I let my mind wander off for a moment.

It seemed like my option was clear; I was once again going to have to hop on the Sirius Black tutoring train. Choo choo.

Kill me now.

* * *

Amulet's Note of Importante: Well, readers, finally an update! I know it's been forever but at least it's here now. Wasn't it just smashing? Poor Alexa and Sirius, they just never seem to have any luck. Well, I hope you enjoyed and I will write as fast as I can. Cheers!


	40. Cry Me A River

Disclaimer: Don't own it; still want to.

Hello good people of FanFiction! So sorry about the long wait for this chapter but it is finally here. This is the second to last chapter for this story, which is kind of bitter sweet. I hope you enjoy the chapter and we will get the last chapter up as soon as we can. Hope you all are well and ENJOY!

AmuletGirl

* * *

_Cry Me A River_

_Lyla's Point of View_

Alexa continued to try and convince me to let the Bree thing go, but there was something going on there and I sure as hell wasn't going to let it go. She thought that I would at least ease up on it for a while seeing as it's May and school is winding down, but I'm an excellent multitasker. I'm ahead on most of my work and studying anyways so I can afford to take some time off to get to the bottom of whatever is going on. Before I had just thought up theories in my head but now it was a full on investigation; James being my partner in crime.

James had come to me a few days ago and confided in me that he thought there was something off about Bree's reappearance and I felt relieved that I wasn't the only one. We both agreed that there had to be some relationship between Laura disappearing and Bree appearing. They had to be in on everything together and James and I were going to crack this case.

As I walked to my next class I was lost in thought and really wasn't paying attention. However, something caught my eye, and I suddenly became hyperaware. I turned around on the spot and watched the girl who had just passed me. My eyes widened as I realized it was Laura. Risking being classified as a complete stalker, I moved to follow her. I had some choice words for her.

She turned down a corridor that was pretty much empty and stopped near a window to look at something in her notebook. This was my chance. I picked up my pace a bit and approached her. "Laura," I said tapping her on the shoulder. She turned around and looked at me with a confused expression.

"Can I help you?" she asked me. There was something different about her voice. She sounded much more innocent and naïve.

"I just wanted to talk to you about what happened," I told her, trying to remain as calm as possible. "As I'm sure you can imagine, we were all pretty upset about the whole situation and I just need to get some things off my chest. I'm not trying to attack you, even though you may deserve it, but I just want to have a conversation."

Her eyes widened and she looked even more confused. Was she really going to play dumb? "Excuse me? I'm sorry but I have no idea what you're talking about," her voice quivered. She took a tiny step backwards to put some space between us.

"Look, Laura, you and I both know what you did to Sirius and Alexa, so acting like nothing happened is just going to piss me off even more. Don't insult me, please," I said a little angrily.

"I don't even know you," she said. Oh, now she did it. She didn't know me? "Well, I mean, I know who you are," she quickly added, seeing my expression, "But I've never talked to you before. As pathetic as this sounds, I'm just an invisible quiet Hufflepuff. I hate drawing attention to myself and the thought of even talking to Sirius Black absolutely frightens me." I was taken back a bit by her words.

This girl was for real. She literally had never talked to me before. This made no sense. I knew Laura, I've talked to Laura, and I've nearly punched Laura. But, this wasn't Laura. Well, not the Laura I knew. There was a second Laura. There was a second Laura! As I had my epiphany, I realized that the real Laura was still standing before me, panic stricken.

I gave her a smile and placed my hands on her shoulders. "Oh, you know what, I totally have the wrong Laura," I said laughing, trying to get out of this situation. "Common misconception and I'm so sorry. Let me make it up to you." She quickly shook her head no. She didn't want to have anything to do with me, not that I could blame her. "No, really, I want to make it up to you. We'll have lunch soon." Before she could disagree again I turned and started to hastily move down the corridor. I needed to get to class so I could talk to James.

When I got to Divination, James was sitting at our regular table, but Alexa wasn't there yet. I took my seat and dropped my bag to the floor. "James, where's Alexa?" I asked.

"She said that she was going to be a bit late, why?" he questioned, looking at me curiously.

I leaned in close and looked around to make sure no one was listening. "We just had a break through in the case," I said, sounding all legit. James's eyes widened and twinkled, I could tell he was dying to get his hands on the information that I had. "On my way to class, I ran into Laura, and to my surprise, she had no idea who I was. She had no recollection of anything that she did."

"She didn't know who you were?" he asked. "Was she high? She always struck me as a closet stoner," he added.

"No James, she wasn't high," I told him, rolling my eyes. "She genuinely didn't know me. Do you know what this means?" James shook his head. "It means that there is another Laura; someone else is pretending to be her and is completely screwing stuff up in the process."

James nodded in agreement and tapped his chin in thought. Then he gasped loudly and looked as if he just discovered a huge pile of gold. "Yeah, either that or Laura has an identical twin sister also named Laura," he said, sounding so proud of himself.

I patted James on the back. "That could be it," I told him, to make him feel better. "Let's just assume that it's somebody impersonating her, but if that lead dies out then we'll look into the identical twin thing." James happily agreed and I could almost see the wheels turning in his head thinking up countless ideas.

"Oh, also," James added, "I figured since we're practically secret agents and stuff, we definitely need codenames. That way we can be talking about one another and no one will ever know. In addition, we should probably just talk in code for everything, just to be safe."

"Um, while that is a fabulous idea, I think it will be a little hard to talk in code, seeing as we don't have an established code," I told him. His face saddened slightly. "Let's just try to keep this simple, okay?"

James let out a sigh. "Okay, fine," he said. "But can we keep the codenames? I worked really hard on them."

I swear, James was like a large adorable child sometimes. "Yes, James," I said with a smile. "I think we should definitely keep the codenames. What'd you come up with?"

"Okay," he said sitting up straight and preparing to present his ideas, "Prepare to have your mind blown." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Agent Preggo and Agent Four-Eyes." I almost wanted to cringe as he spoke. Those were probably the worst codenames ever, in history. "Do you know which one you are?"

"Yeah, I think I figured it out," I said shaking my head. "Sounds great, James, sounds great."

"What sounds great?" Alexa said as she slipped into the seat next to me.

James and I quickly redirected our attention and pushed all thoughts of Laura from our mind for the time being. "Oh, nothing, James just needs my help with something after class, no big deal," I told her, which was somewhat true.

"I see, what does he need help with?" she asked as she unpacked her bag. I knew she didn't suspect anything, but that didn't really calm me down any.

I looked to James and he tapped his glasses while throwing me a wink. "Well, I've been having a rough time with the Divinations homework so I asked Lyls to help," James confessed.

"Oh, I'm glad I'm not the only one who didn't get any of this," she said pointing to the crystal ball at the center of the table. "Let's all get together after class and we can do the homework together."

James immediately tensed up. "Hey, get your own tutor," he said, a little harsher than was necessary, especially since I wasn't even James's tutor. "Lyla is my tutor, so you're just going to have to find someone else."

Alexa looked at James curiously. "Okay, fine, I guess I can just do it on my own. I'm not trying to steal your tutor," she assured James. Alexa turned to me and gave me a questioning look. I just shrugged my shoulders.

After class James and I quickly dodged Alexa and headed up to the dorms to conspire. We bounded up the stairs and closed the door behind us. James immediately went to his trunk and rummaged around. I grabbed two pillows from his bed and placed them on the floor. "I feel like Sherlock Holmes," James said as he continued to search. "And you're my Doctor Watson; except we're nearly a million times better."

"How's that?" I asked, getting comfortable on my pillow.

"Because we have these," he said turning around, a smile on his face and two items in his hands. He placed the map and the cloak on the floor and took a seat next to me. "Maybe if we crack this case we can take this show on the road," he suggested with a wink. I just shook my head.

"Let's just focus on this for now," I told him. "Obviously, Laura isn't Laura, so we need to figure out who is pretending to be Laura."

"I think right now, our best guess is that it's Bree," he said simply, as he unfolded the map. "Here are the facts: Bree seemed to drop off the face of the planet, around the same time Laura came into our lives, then Laura got the hell out of here once stuff with Sirius blew up, and then Bree came back. It has to be her." I contemplated what he said and it all made sense.

"I think that sounds great, but we have to have concrete proof, we can't just operate on theories here," I said. "Now, the real Laura doesn't seem to know anything, but there's something that confuses me. If someone was pretending to be Laura, where was the real Laura during all this? I think people would have noticed if two of the same people were just strolling around the castle."

"We'll just have to figure out what she knows," James obviously pointed out. "Let's just ask her."

"But she could easily lie, or maybe somebody did something to her to keep her quiet," I told him. We needed something that would ensure that she told us the truth. Suddenly, I had an idea, "James, was there any of that veritaserum left from the time that we used it on Bree, Andy and Caradoc?" James just smiled and went back to his trunk.

Out of the messy filled trunk, James revealed a vial that had just the smallest amount of liquid in it. "I think this should do it," he said, a mischievous look on his face. I pulled James into a hug and patted him jovially on the back.

I released him and grabbed a scrap of parchment and a quill. I scrawled a quick note and then turned to James once again. "Although I disapprove of Michael being your helper, we need him. Tell him to give this note to Laura and to make sure she comes tonight and in the meantime, you and I will round up the crew and go to the library to wait for her." James took the slip of paper and nodded his head. "So I'll get the girls and you get the boys and then we'll meet in the library."

"Operation Find Out Who Laura Really Is And Expose Bree As A Dirty Slut is ago," James said saluting me.

I just looked at him and shook my head. "We'll work on that later," I told him, getting up off the floor and heading for the door. I closed the door behind me leaving my sweet friend to his tasks and took off toward my own dorm, hoping to find Alexa and Blair there.

Alexa and Blair were both sitting on my bed flipping through a magazine and laughing at some article that was in there. They looked up as I entered the room and gave me a smile? "Hey Lyls, what's up?" Alexa asked, turning her attention back to the article.

"Yeah, and what is this I hear of you tutoring James in Divination?" she asked me. "He never mentioned that he was struggling to me."

Completely ignoring her question I posed my own. "Do you guys want to go to the library with me?" I asked.

Alexa looked up confused. "I'm sorry, did you forget whom you were talking to?" she questioned. "I think I'll just stay here and do my own studying. Studying the fine art of fine men." I looked at her _Witch Weekly_ and shook my head.

"Okay, let me rephrase that," I said. "You have to come to the library with me, no option."

"Lyla, what's going on?" Blair asked.

"It's a surprise," I told her. "Just come with me and I'll tell you once we get there."

Alexa closed her magazine and looked at me skeptically. "Why can't you tell us now?" Alexa asked.

"Because if I tell you now, you'll think I'm being ridiculous and you may not come but we need the whole crew there. James is getting the guys and we need to meet him in the library," I explained. Alexa finally caved and she and Blair followed me as we made our way to the library.

Once we arrived, James was already there with the boys at a table near the back. We quickly joined them, taking our seats. "Will somebody please tell me what this is all about?" Sirius asked looking rather bored with the whole thing.

"Well, my dear friends," James started, "In just a few moments we will be joined by Laura Calloway." Alexa sat up and looked at me with the most hideous face.

"Look, I'm over that whole thing," Alexa said, and I noticed that Sirius looked away out the window, "But I still don't want to see her or talk to her."

"Alex, you just have to trust us," I tried to comfort her. "There is something going on with Laura that we don't know and we're going to figure it out tonight. When I saw Laura earlier today she had no clue who I was. Does that not seem a little odd?"

"Well, to be fair," Remus chimed in, "If you were about to kick my ass the last time I saw you I would probably act like I didn't know you too." I raised my eyebrow at Remus and he quickly added, "But you're definitely right, there is something odd about that." I gave him a nod letting him know he was off the hook for now.

"Okay, so what's the plan then? What exactly are we trying to accomplish here?" Blair asked.

"Well, we're going to give Laura some veritaserum and figure this whole thing out," James explained. "We're just going to kind of play it by ear after that." Everyone just nodded their heads. I could tell that Sirius and Alexa were extremely uncomfortable with this whole thing, but we needed to figure this out and they needed to learn to be around each other again, so tough love it is.

A little while later we saw Michael come around a bookshelf, Laura following behind him, looking very nervous. They stopped at the table and waited for one of us to talk. James took the lead saying, "Michael, thank you my good sir, that's all we'll be needing." Michael nodded his head and left Laura's side, leaving her even more panic-stricken. "Laura, please have a seat," he said, motioning to the empty chair at the head of the table. Laura took her seat and bit her lip nervously. "Okay, I'm going to need you to drink this," James said abruptly shoving the vial toward her.

I put my hand up to stop James and turned to Laura giving her a smile. "Ignore him," I said. "There's no need to be nervous, we just want to talk." Laura nodded her head as she watched James carefully. "We just have some questions for you and we're hoping you can help us figure some stuff out."

"I already told you early, I don't know anything," she quickly said. "I've never talked to any of you before, I highly doubt that I would be able to help you with anything."

Alexa sat up in her chair and looked at Laura in disbelief. "That may be, but we still would like to ask you a few things," I told her. "Now, as James mentioned, we are going to need you to drink this, but don't worry, it's nothing that could harm you."

Laura hesitantly took the vial from James's extended hand and looked it over. "What is this?" she questioned, rightly so.

"Oh, just a tonic for your nerves," James lied. "It will just calm you down a bit." Laura looked at James, not knowing whether to believe him or not. "Come on, you can trust me, Marauder's honor." We all looked at each other rolling our eyes. Laura uncorked the vial and gingerly tipped its contents into her mouth.

"Right, so what do you want to ask me?" she asked as she cleared her throat as she tried to rid her mouth of that awful taste.

"Well, let's see," I said, thinking of a good leading question. That was one aspect of the plan that we hadn't given much thought. "Do you know Bree Williams and Andy Ablo?" I asked, starting off as basic as possible.

"Yes," Laura said in response. Now why would Bree and Andy hang around with a painfully shy fifth year Hufflepuff?

"Are you friends with Andy and Bree?" James asked.

"No, I wouldn't call us friends," Laura said. "To be honest they are just using me." I could definitely tell that the veritaserum was working.

"Using you for what?" Blair asked, becoming interested in what was going on now.

"Well, to get back at you guys," she said, sounding like she couldn't even believe what she was saying. This caught the attention of every single person at the table. I knew it! James and I looked at each other victoriously.

Alexa leaned forward and posed a question, "Did you make out with Sirius?" Sirius looked down at his hands in his lap and Alexa stared Laura down.

"Of course not," she said blushing a bit. "Sirius Black would never make out with _me_."

Alexa scoffed. "I wouldn't be so sure of that," she said snidely. "She's obviously lying. We all know she did it."

"Alex, she can't be lying," I said. "You saw her, she took veritaserum. She's telling the truth." I looked to Laura again. "Did Bree and Andy tell you what they were planning on doing to get back at us?" She nodded her head. "Can you tell us?"

Laura sat there for a moment. She looked like she was thinking really hard. "I wish I could, but I can't remember," she said, sounding truly sorry. "I remember them explaining it to me, but I can't remember what they said, everything just goes fuzzy after that."

We all looked at each other. What the hell were Bree and Andy into? "Do you think they made her forget?" Blair asked. "That would have been easy enough for Andy. They could have erased just enough of her memory so she wouldn't be able to tell anyone what they were up to."

"Do you remember anything else of what Andy and Bree told you?" Remus asked, pressing the issue.

"All I can remember is that they took some of my hair and whenever I received a note from Bree or Andy I had to stay up in my dorm until I received another note. And under no circumstances was I allowed to tell anyone about this, which is exactly what I'm doing right now. They are going to kill me."

"Don't worry," I told her, "We won't let them do anything to you." I leaned in closer to my friends and signaled them to do the same. We formed a sort of circle with our heads so Laura couldn't hear what we were saying. "They had to be using Polyjuice potion," I said, confident in that notion.

"Or maybe this bitch is just crazy," Alexa said rather crudely.

"Alex, she's telling the truth, this wasn't Laura's fault," Blair said. "This is not the same Laura that we met."

"So, this means that I didn't kiss Laura?" Sirius asked.

"No, you kissed Bree, again, which is much worse in my opinion," Alexa said, not able to hold her anger in any longer. Honestly, I was just happy that she was showing any kind of emotion other than that of blatant denial that anything was wrong.

"Look, we have bigger problems than who Sirius has kissed and who he hasn't," James said, preventing Sirius from coming back with a retort. "Either Bree or Andy has been running around pretending to be Laura and screwing things up for everyone. While this tells us how they are doing it, we need to actually catch them doing it. We need cold hard proof if we want to stop them." James broke away from the circle and looked to Laura who was sitting there patiently. "Tell me, are Andy and Bree planning on doing anything else to us?" James questioned.

"They told me they'd be seeing me soon, but they didn't say what for," she told us.

"Okay, it's settled, we just need to watch Bree and Andy carefully and keep an eye on Laura with the map," James said. "If we are somewhere and we see Laura but the map says otherwise we'll know that that is not Laura. We are going to catch them and beat them at their own game." James gave me a smile and tapped his glasses and threw me a wink. Ladies and gentlemen, Agent Four-Eyes.

* * *

I had been awake for hours. I couldn't really sleep very well lately; I just couldn't seem to find a comfortable position. However, I found myself in a bit of a conundrum, I couldn't sleep but I had no desire to get out of bed; so here I am, lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling. In the past I would have loved having this time to myself, but as of late, I didn't like to be alone with my thoughts.

"Lyla?" I heard whispered through my drawn bed curtains. Thankfully, Alexa couldn't be alone with her thoughts either. "Lyla?" she whispered again. "Are you awake?"

"If I wasn't, I sure am now," I joked with her.

She stuck her head through the parted curtains, her hair still disheveled from sleep. "Mind if I come in?" Without a word I folded back part of my blanket, inviting her to join me. She gave me a huge smile and quickly joined me underneath the covers. We both just sat there staring up.

A few minutes later, Blair's head popped into view. Alexa and I looked over to her and gave her a questioning stare. "You know that I want in on this," she said plainly. I gave her a nod and she too climbed into my bed. Blair smoothed the comforter after she settled in and let out a sigh. "Look at us," she started, "We're pathetic. Here we are, grown girls, and we are hiding out in our beds."

"I'm hiding from my sad and pitiful life," Alexa said.

"I'm hiding from reality," I added.

"I'm hiding from James," Blair stated. Alexa and I simultaneously turned to look at Blair quizzically. "What?" she asked. "The final game for the Quidditch Cup is today, you know he is going to be absolutely mad today." We all just shook our heads in understanding.

Suddenly, Alexa sat up and threw the curtains open. "Blair's right, we are pathetic. We are cooped up on a beautiful Saturday when we should be out and about enjoying our lives," Alexa said with grave determination. "How about we head down to Hogsmeade for a bit of shopping before the game?"

"You know I never turn down a little retail therapy," Blair said convinced. Knowing at this point that I didn't really have an option, I nodded in compliance and allowed Alexa to pull me out of bed. We got dressed and made ourselves look somewhat presentable then headed out into the spring air.

The sun was shining bright and the warmth felt so good on my skin. It had been raining the past couple of days and it was nice to have even a slight reprieve from the heavy storms. As we entered Hogsmeade, the town was buzzing with people clearly taking advantage of the beautiful day. There were countless students running around, rushing from one place to another in small groups, and enjoying every moment of their time. They all looked so happy.

Alexa maneuvered us through the hoards of people and led us to Madame M's. "Good afternoon, dears," Madame M greeted us. "Let me know if I can help you with anything."

"In fact, there is something you can do for me," Alexa said, marching straight over to the counter where Madame M was perched. Blair and I followed closely behind her and waited to see what it was going to be this time. I don't know what it was, but every time we came into this shop Alexa had to do something to her appearance. "I would like it if you could take me back to my natural hair color." Thank goodness it wasn't another piercing.

Madame M gave Alexa an excited smile and led us to the back of the store where she sat Alexa down in one of the chairs. While Madame M slipped into the back room to retrieve her supplies, Blair and I gathered around Alexa. "So what's the reason for the change this time?" Blair asked as she took a seat in the chair next to Alexa.

Looking straight ahead into the mirror, Alexa responded, "It's a constant reminder of what I've lost." She tucked her blonde locks behind her ears. "If I get rid of this blonde hair, I can hopefully be done with that whole chapter of my life for good now." I'll tell you right now, dying her hair wasn't going to get rid of her feelings for Sirius. But could I tell her any of this? Of course not. Alexa had become pretty agitated at any mention of Sirius and she had made it perfectly clear that she didn't want to talk about it and that she didn't even care that much anymore. Blair gave me a look, but it did not go unnoticed by Alexa. "I know what you two are thinking, and I'd appreciate it if you'd stop."

I laughed slightly. "You want us to stop thinking?" I questioned.

"I want you to stop thinking about Sirius and me," she clarified. "It's over. I'm moving on and so should you guys." Blair and I just nodded our heads and temporarily surrendered. Madame M returned with a two bottles of clear potion and a bowl.

She set the contents on the counter and turned to Alexa. "Now, this is a bit different than the first go around," she started to explain. "I will mix these two together and it will form a mixture that is slightly gel like and then that will, to put it simply, just get rid of the blonde dye, leaving your natural color." Alexa nodded her head in understanding. Madame M nodded back and then turned to the two bottles, emptying their contents into the bowl and stirring them gently.

When she seemed satisfied with the mixture, she moved to Alexa's side and began to rub the gel all over her hair, rubbing it deep into the roots and making sure it was evenly distributed. "Alright, now you'll need to sit here and let it soak in for a bit," Madame M said. "If you need anything or if your head starts to burn, just yell," she said as she walked away back toward the front of the store.

"Burn?" Alexa questioned, reaching up to touch her head. "That doesn't sound good."

"Oh, I'm sure she's just joking," Blair said. "But to be on the safe side, I would speak up if it does start to burn." Alexa let out a nervous laugh and I went over to the counter and sat up on it. "So what shall we do after this ladies?" she asked, partially trying to distract Alexa.

"Well, it looked like Madame M just got a new shipment of clothing, so we could browse around and try on some stuff," Alexa suggested. Without even realizing it, I let out a groan. Blair and Alexa both looked at me. "What? Do you have something against clothes?"

I just shrugged my shoulders. "Right now I do, seeing as all my clothes are growing tighter on me, and I feel huge in them," I said honestly. Blair just looked at me with sad eyes.

"Even more of a reason for us to shop, dear sister," Alexa said.

"As nice as that sounds," I told her, "We don't exactly have the means to buy me a whole new wardrobe."

"Maybe not a whole new wardrobe, but at least enough to have you settled for a while," she said very cryptically. I just looked at her questionably. Unless she recently robbed Gringotts, I couldn't really figure out how she planned on paying for these new clothes. "I saw you stretching at your clothes the other day, so I wrote home to Mom and Dad and they sent us some money."

My jaw dropped and I looked at Alexa with disbelief. "Alex! You shouldn't have done that," I scolded. "I don't want to ask Mom and Dad for money. I already feel bad about everything that happened over break and this is just going to make me feel worse."

"Why would this make you feel worse?" Alexa asked, trying to defend her position. "They are your parents, Lyla. They're supposed to do stuff like this."

"Yeah, but my situation is different," I tried to explain. "I just feel bad taking their money. I can't take it; I don't deserve it. You should use it."

"Fine then," Alexa said coolly. Well, that was way too easy. "I'll just buy a bunch of clothes for myself in your size," she said with a devilish smile. I rolled my eyes and gave her a look while Blair laughed. "I mean you are more than welcome to borrow them, but please make sure you ask first."

"You are such a prat," I told her. "I hope your hair burns off," I said childishly.

"You would know how much that sucks, wouldn't you Lyls?" she retorted, bringing up the prank that Bree and Andy pulled on us. I just shook my head and laughed. Even I had to admit that she was on fire today.

A little while later, and no burning, Madame M returned and washed Alexa's hair. When she removed the towel from her hair, there was a collective sigh of relief from Madame M, Blair, and myself. Alexa's familiar brown locks were back on her head. As strange as it sounds, it felt like Alexa had been away and finally she was back. Madame M quickly dried her hair with a drying spell and turned Alexa around to look at herself in the mirror. "How do you like it?" she asked.

Alexa reached her hand up and ran her fingers through her brunette mane and smiled. "It looks great," she said. "I look like me again. Not that I didn't look totally hot with blonde hair, I just feel more at home being a brunette." Oh, the modesty of that girl. "Thank you so much, Madame M."

"No problem, dearie," she said, marveling at her work. "You look splendid."

Alexa hopped out of the chair and turned to face us. "Now, let's look around for some clothes and then we'll pay for it all when we're ready to leave," Alexa said aloud, to no one in particular. We made our way over to where the clothes were and began to rifle through the seemingly countless racks.

While I didn't find anything in particular, Alexa and Blair had no trouble finding things for me. They grabbed me, forced me into a changing room and piled my arms with clothes. "Try these on," Blair instructed. I grabbed one shirt from the giant pile and slipped it on. It was a light pink shirt that flowed loosely over my abdomen. I looked in the mirror and examined my reflection. "Are you about done in there, come out and show us."

Reluctantly, I opened the door to the changing room and stepped out. "Oh, Lyls, that looks really nice," Alexa said. She pulled me over to a mirror and she and Blair looked at my reflection with me. "Don't you like it?" she asked, seeing my mixed expression.

"Yeah, it's nice," I said, a bit hesitantly. "It looks fine, I suppose, it's more of a feeling that I'm having problems with." They both just looked at me. "I don't know, I just feel, big. I know that it's normal and I know that I'm going to gain weight, I just haven't quite gotten used to it yet."

"Lyla," Blair said quietly. "You look beautiful and you're barely even showing," she told me reassuringly. She turned me to the side and made me look at myself. I smoothed the shirt over my tiny bump. "No matter what, you're going to look extraordinary."

"Hey girls," a voice said from behind us. "Doing a bit of shopping are we?" We all turned around and saw Bree leaning up against a rack of clothes.

"Umm… yeah, we are," Alexa said cautiously. "How about yourself?"

She pushed off the rack and moved toward us slightly. "Yeah, but I really couldn't find too much of interest," she said. "Oh, but Lyla, that shirt is so pretty," she said to me. "I'd maybe try it a size bigger, it looks a little tight." I looked down at the shirt I was wearing and then back to Bree. "Well, see you guys later." And then, she was gone.

"What the hell was that?" Blair asked. "Do you think she knows?"

I took a deep breath. "I think it's safe to say that there is a very high probability that she knows." I could feel my heart start to beat quicker and I felt a little nauseous.

Seeing my uneasiness, Alexa spoke. "Look, let's just get some of these clothes and then head back to the castle to find the guys." She put her arms around me and rubbed my shoulders. "It's all going to be okay, Lyla. We'll figure this out."

We sorted through the clothes and picked out some choice pieces, paid for our goods and then headed back to the castle. When we returned back to Gryffindor Tower, all the boys were in their dormitory. "We've got some bad news," Alexa said, just coming right out and saying it.

"What do you mean something bad?" James answered. I looked over to Remus who was watching me carefully. I walked over and sat with him on his bed.

"We think Bree may know that I'm pregnant," I told him. Remus put his book down and drug his fingers through his hair.

He took my hands in his. "Why do you think she knows?" Remus asked me.

"I think she overheard us talking about it down in Hogsmeade," I said. "I'm not for certain, but she acted like she knew. And who knows if she'll tell anybody."

"And this couldn't have waited until after the game this afternoon?" James asked.

"James," Blair chastised. "You're being extremely insensitive."

"Look, I'm sorry, but we have to win this game, and if my keeper is anything less than perfect then we won't be able to do that," he said.

Blair walked over to him, hit him upside the head, and then grabbed his arm. "Come with me right now, you rude ass."

Alexa turned to follow after them without saying a word and then Sirius got up as well. "Let's go Pete," he said to Peter. "You and I are going to play a rousing game of wizard's chess, and I am going to beat you like a drum."

"You're on," Peter responded as he followed his friend out of the room, leaving me alone with Remus.

I looked at Remus whose head was slightly hung. I could tell he was worried about this. "Hey, listen, don't worry about this, it's not as big of a deal as I thought it was going to be," I told him. "People were going to find out sooner or later. Might as well be sooner so we can just get it over with."

"People are going to talk," he said.

"So what?" I questioned. "I'm sure people have said stuff about me before."

"I don't want them saying bad things about you though," he told me, looking up into my eyes. "You're not a bad person and I don't want them depicting you in that way. It's not fair to you."

I shrugged my shoulders and moved closer to him. "I'll be fine," I assured him. "And if it will make you feel better, I give you full permission to have James and Sirius rough up anybody who says anything bad about me," I told him jokingly. "Now, if you don't get ready for this game, James is going to be very upset with me." I stood up from his bed and made my way toward the door, pulling him along with me. "So, don't worry and play well." I placed a kiss on his cheek and then we headed down the stairs to find James and Blair.

* * *

_Alexa's Point of View_

"And that's James Potter with the quaffle! He shoots through the middle hoop, barely missing Black's ear before," The hype in Lyla's voice built up until we were all almost leaning over the railings to see the result of the flying red ball. There was a loud 'aw' before Lyla's dejected voice rang through the stadium again. "It's blocked by Slytherin's alternate keeper, Regulus Black. Looks like Sirius isn't the only Black who has game." She said almost to herself but the microphone caught it and amplified it over the stadium.

Blair and I laughed from our spot over in the Gryffindor stands, sitting with Peter on our other side. I glanced down at the awkward boy with a smile while Blair chattered on about anything and everything. Not really following what she was saying, I tried to spot Carrie out on the pitch; she was our only hope against this otherwise neck in neck match. My vision was obscured a second later as Gideon Prewitt threw the quaffle through the hoop only missing by an inch.

"Damn it! We're never going to win if they keep this bullshit up. What the hell is wrong with everyone today?" I interrupted Blair, before blushing sheepishly through the hair that was whipping around in my face. Continuing on with my rant about Quidditch, which was really just taking place over the rant I wanted to have about Bree and her bitchiness to Lyla, I pulled my hair off my face in time to see Sirius shove his bat out and send a bludger flying towards the ground. "I mean the wind was an excuse for a while but now Sirius is just throwing bludgers to the ground while we all sit and twiddle our thumbs. At least Remus is at his top condition today."

Right as I was saying this, Mulciber threw the quaffle hard at Remus, who dove slightly off his broom, grabbing the wood and the quaffle at the last minute to save the goal and him. Gryffindor let out a collective sigh of relief as Lyla shouted obscenities at her fiancé. "I don't know, Alexa, but were you even listening to me? I'm trying to talk to you about the seriousness that is the Bree/Laura/Andy debacle."

Turning back to Blair, I smiled slightly to show her I was sorry before I answered her. "Blair, right now that is the last thing on my mind, to be honest with you. I have to worry about getting Sirius to tutor me in Transfiguration without it being so weird I can't function since Remus can't or won't do it. Then I have to worry about my sister who is," I lowered my voice just in case any one was around, "pregnant. And I'm trying to watch this match."

"Well, then you should pay more attention because Carrie's about to close her hand over the snitch." Blair said with a huff while nodding behind me with her arms crossed. Swinging back around, I grabbed the banister of the stands to see Carrie race quickly on her broom against Slytherin's seeker. "Carrie is neck in neck with Lestrange, just a few more moments and one of them will have it. Oh, come on, Carrie! Just a bit further!" She screamed as the two bumped each other as they pushed harder.

The whole stadium watched with rapt attention, James frozen in the middle of the pitch with the quaffle under his arm, shouting obscenities at Lestrange and encouragement to Carrie, while the rest of the chasers were still around him. Closing my eyes, I muttered about how I couldn't watch, as Blair's yelling got lost in the crowds roar. Then suddenly, as if a silencing charm had been placed on the whole stadium, it went silent as the two seekers rolled to the ground from their brooms at about 5 feet.

No one knew what had happened and when they finally rolled away from each other, they sat sprawled on the ground before Carrie smirked triumphantly, said something we could neither see or hear, and held up the snitch in her left hand while she beamed at James who had flown down to rest at the ground next to her. The whole stadium lit up in applause, boos, shouting, and all manners of celebration as Lyla screamed her praise for Gryffindor from the announcers booth. Quickly reading off the stats, I watched as she tossed the microphone at Professor McGonagall with muttered thanks and hurried down to the pitch where Remus was waiting.

Looking to my left, I noticed that Blair was nowhere to be seen and to my right, Peter had disappeared as well. Smiling to myself, I took a seat on one of the bleachers a little higher up as I watched the celebrations going on down on the field. I could just make out the immense shine of James's Captain's badge that glittered brightly in the late afternoon sun before a short brunette that I assumed to be Blair jumped into his arms. On the other end of the field, I could see the fire engine hair of one of the Prewitt's and his fans.

Then right below the Gryffindor goal posts, Lyla was making her way across the field in her girly run towards Remus who dropped his broom and picked her up as she wrapped her legs around him to suspend off the ground. They spun around and I could just imagine the look on their faces as they smiled happily at each other in triumph and adrenaline. Standing from my spot, I decided on what I had to do to keep them that way.

Hurrying through the stands and back up the pathway to the castle, I figured I could catch up with my friends at the convening feast and express my congratulations then; besides, it wasn't as if I was really needed down there as anything other than the third wheel right now. Luckily enough, as I rounded the corner of the courtyard to enter the castle, I saw just the bouncy ponytail that I was looking for. "Bree! Hey, Williams, wait up!" I shouted and she turned quickly looking for the source before her eyes landed on me and widened slightly.

She stopped and waited for me to catch up. "Hey, Alexa, great game down there today, right?" She said pleasantly and I nodded before narrowing my eyes at her. She took notice of this and immediately her hands went to her hips in defiance. Oh yeah, something was definitely up. "So, why aren't you down at the pitch celebrating with everyone else?"

"I could ask you the same question, I suppose?" I countered and she narrowed her eyes before moving her hands from her hips to cross her hands. "Why aren't you down there celebrating? You're still a Gryffindor last time I checked."

"Well, of course, but I just had some other business to take care of before the feast later. You know, people to see, places to go." She waved me off and was about to take a step away from me when I grabbed her arm. "Well, I take it there must be something you want to talk to me about."

Rolling my eyes, I made sure no one was around before I spoke. "Listen, Bree, whatever you think you saw today in Hogsmeade, it's not what you think. And if you are thinking about saying anything about this to anyone, you need to take into consideration that I know things that could and would make your life a living hell on Earth." She narrowed her eyes at me and I held my gaze steady even though the things I knew I didn't really believe. Because, honestly, it was Laura and that girl was not capable of a grand master plan like she had everyone fooled to think. But Bree didn't know that.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about, Alexa? I just saw you, Blair, and Lyla trying on clothes at a store. Although, maybe next time you should be the good friend and tell Lyla that her clothes are just a little tighter than she used to wear them." With a smirk, she tugged out of my hold and moved back a few steps. "You're not the only one who is capable of making someone's life hell, Alexa. Just know that before you try to corner me anymore. I'd like to be friends but I'm pretty sure all bets are off if you threaten me again. Oh, hi, Sirius." Bree said with a smile and a wave before turning away.

Putting my hand to grasp the bridge of my nose where a headache was forming, I felt the presence of the aforementioned boy next to me as he looked down at me. "You stink, Black, please tell me you plan on showering before the honoring dinner tonight?" I said before opening my eyes and looking up at the boy. His hair was disheveled from the wind and sweat and his Quidditch robe had been removed, leaving him in a tight t-shirt and his Quidditch pants.

Smiling, he shrugged carelessly while falling into step next to me as I made my way through the courtyards to the passageway that would lead me back to the tower. "I was planning on going with the 'heroic' look." He said with a slight pursing of his lips, narrowing of his eyes, and staring off to the side. I couldn't help but laugh at the sight. "Or not. But listen, I saw Blair after the match. She said something about you failing Transfiguration, which I realize is weird to bring up at a time like that, but hey, it's Blair."

"You're rambling, Black. I know about Blair's total randomness." I cut across him while holding the door open behind me so he could step through. We continued to walk and he muttered something before running a hand through his mop of black hair.

"Right, well, Alexa, I'm here to offer my tutoring services again." That startled me and I looked over at him sharply. He looked totally innocent and, mind the pun, serious about the offer. "It's just that I _know_ things have been awkward between us to say the least, and this would be a good way for us to be friends again." I continued to look at him blankly, going over the options in my mind and he began to look a little awkward, but still adorable as he backtracked. "Or I mean if you don't want my help that's totally fine too."

"No, no," I said while grabbing his arm to stop him from walking away and leaving this weirdness behind. Taking a breath, I removed my hand and smiled up at him. "I'd really like your help. Like Blair said, I'm failing and I'd really rather not repeat 6th year again if I don't have to. And to be honest, I've missed us being friends too. I've missed you."

Smiling, Sirius wrapped me in a hug that I returned before pushing him back some and taking a step back. Making a show of wiping my bare arms off, I pulled a face at him. "Now, please, go shower before you infect anyone else with your sweaty germs." He laughed in earnest now, and I let the feeling rush over me before giving him a wave as we parted ways at the staircases to the common room.

I sat alone on my bed for a while, not really doing anything in particular but just twirling my wand around my now brunette hair and flipping through one of Lyla's magazines. Then there was a commotion outside of my door. Moving towards it, I reached for the handle right as the door swung back and drilled me in the middle of the forehead. With a shriek, I grasped my face in pain while Lyla and Remus, swollen lips and flushed cheeks, apologized profusely.

"I don't even want to know what the hell you two were doing," I said through my throbbing headache and Remus blushed even more as Lyla sat me down on her bed and pulled out her wand. Muttering some random spell that she had learned over the year of healing Remus after full moons, I sighed in relief when my headache went away. Looking at both of them, I shook my head at the sight of them. "You may have the room, if you give me the password to the Prefect's bathroom so I may shower and get ready for the feast tonight."

The two lovebirds looked at each other before Remus muttered the password, still not looking in my eyes. "It's Lethifold." I smiled and thanked him, before realizing that this creature that was the password could kill someone. "You prefects are sick people, you know? A creature that attacks at night? Definitely just like you prefect people." As I gathered some clothes in my arms, I rolled my eyes while Lyla ushered me out quickly. "Don't have sex in my bed!" I yelled out as the door shut quickly behind me. Chuckling to myself, I made my way to the prefect's bathroom to get ready for the night's activities.

About forty-five minutes later, I stepped out of the Prefects bathroom, freshly coifed and smelling like the lemon shampoo that was deposited in the showers. The hallway was silent and I sighed while pushing my hands into my pockets. Shaking my brunette curls out of my eyes, I walked slowly and aimlessly as I made my way towards the Great Hall where the feast for the end of the Quidditch Season was going to take place that night. Knowing that it was going to start in a little under ten minutes, I sped up a little more, weaving between people as I spotted James's towering frame.

Where there was James, there was Blair and I smiled as the happy couple waved at me as I shouted out their names. Blair paused and waited for me as James caught up with Sirius and Lyla who were walking ahead and talking about something. Remus was nowhere to be seen, but I figured he'd be down any minute. "Hey, Blair, you disappeared after the match. Being all lovey-dovey with James?" I said while nudging her in the shoulder.

Blushing, she shoved me back with her elbow and then smiled with a little skip in her step. "We were just hanging out. Then he took a shower to clean up for tonight." I raised my eyebrows up higher and she rolled her eyes. "I didn't even see him without his shirt, Alexa, so stop looking at me like that."

"Not one to judge here, Blair. This is a judgment-free zone." Holding my hands up in surrender, she assented and we started walking again just as Remus came up to us from my side. "Ah, young Remus, excellent game today. Didn't get to tell you as much during our earlier encounter." I tried not to laugh as his cheeks lit up a nice crimson color.

"I thought I heard something about a judgment-free zone being over here?" He offered up as we found our seats at the Gryffindor table. Giving Lyla a kiss on the cheek, he shook his imperceptibly and I watched her face dim slightly. James, who took this opportunity to look up and slap Sirius, who had been eyeing some girl at the Ravenclaw table, on the back of the head jumped in before Remus could answer his question.

"Well, you know us. We're all so nonjudgmental that it ruins my life some days. We love everyone," He said while cheekily wrapping an arm around my shoulder on his right side and Sirius' shoulder on his left. Rolling my eyes, I shrugged out of his hold and folded my hands under my chin while leaning towards the table.

Blair laughed and turned herself towards Lyla and Remus on her side of the table. "So, Remus, seriously where were you at? Unless, of course, we have a new development between Lyla and Sirius here who were spotted walking into the Great Hall together?" Getting that mischievous look in his eye, Sirius leaned forward and took Lyla's hand between his own.

"Love, I believe they've found out about us." He lowered his head to gaze at her through his dark lashes and she fluttered her own while I turned back to the Great Hall to see what was going on and people watch as they continued their charade. Hearing Remus mutter something about them not being funny or needing to fuel the fire of any more rumors, I laughed slightly. The laughter died, however, as I saw a familiar looking girl waltz into the Great Hall.

My body stiffened as I watched the girl strut to the Hufflepuff table like she owned the place. Her demeanor was different from how I had seen her earlier in the week and she had a twinkle in her murky blue eyes that I recognized from someone else that was nowhere to be seen. Seeing my attention so focused, Lyla followed my gaze and her eyes narrowed immediately. "That's not the real Laura, is it." I said with a sigh, saying the words as a statement and not a question.

Everyone else took this as the time to look over and I felt my heart clench as she waved and blew a kiss to Sirius. Remus, Lyla, and Blair turned back around and we all shared a look that I knew couldn't be good. "No, it isn't, and I just talked to Bree outside. That's what I was doing. She's not going to back off and she said it's going to happen tonight." He rubbed a hand on Lyla's back and I saw her eyes fill slightly with tears before she slammed her fists into the table.

"I'm not going down without a fight." Lyla said with certainty as she got up. I watched my older sister in awe as she shook off Remus's hand and made her way right to the center of the hall. Laura/Bree/what the hell, got up from her seat as well and walked to where Lyla was standing with her hands on her hips. No one paid them too much attention, however, and the five of us watched with rapt attention before Lyla stood up straighter and pointed in Laura's face. I could just imagine the look on her face as she told Laura what was up.

Laura looked down for a minute and turned to leave, and I breathed a sigh of relief before my heart clenched as Laura turned around one last time. Lyla's shoulder sagged as Laura's lips began to move. "Oh, and Lyla, next time you go to buy maternity clothes, I'd suggest something a little bigger." More and more people looked up at Laura's projected voice and almost as if she was feeding off my sister's pain, she continued. "That shirt is looking a little tight. But at least you know you're not just fat, right? Tell Remus I said congratulations and Sirius I said hello, will you?"

The hall fell silent as Laura walked past Lyla and towards the door while Lyla stood still in the middle of the hall by herself. I sat stunned, and then in a show of awesomeness that I honestly didn't know she possessed, she walked straight towards Laura and slapped her right across the face. As Laura stood grasping her face, Lyla put one hand on her hip and then started in. "Let's get this one thing straight. While I may or may not be having a child at some point in my life, at least I know that it will be with someone that I love. I am loved and that's where we're different. You stand up in front of everyone to tell secrets that aren't yours in the first place.

"Well, let me tell you a little secret. You will _never_ feel as loved as I do. And just in case you can't get that through your little head, let me remind you. Sirius didn't want you and yet you did everything in your power to make him just as unhappy as you are. You ruined Alexa because of it. But you're finished with your little games. You are _nothing_. And if I see you around me or my friends, or my fiancé again I will make sure the only place or people you'll see for a long time will be on the inside of a hospital room. Now get out of my face."

No one moved as we watched for Laura's reaction to Lyla's figurative throwing of the gauntlet. Lyla's chest was heaving in anger and Laura's eyes filled with tears, making them shine in the light of the hall, but still nothing was said as we all watched with rapt attention. Then, without warning, Laura burst into tears and rushed from the Great Hall. As if the spell had been broken, whispering and talking of a very insane volume broke out over the whole hall and I felt myself stand from the table subconsciously.

I found myself with an arm around Lyla's shoulders while Remus laced his arm around her waist and we led her out of the Great Hall. Blair trailed quickly behind us, silent for once, while James and Sirius did their best to threaten and shut anyone up who got in our way. When we had finally exited the hall, I noticed that while she had tears in her eyes from the whole fucked up situation, Lyla was smiling slightly to herself. As we went to make our way towards the Common Room, Lyla stopped us and motioned towards the door that would lead us outside.

"Could we just go outside for a little while? I need some fresh air and I'd love to go sit by the lake to just decompress." She gave us all a small smile and broke out of our hold while walking towards the door. Remus motioned for us to stay back for a minute and he caught up with her, standing in front of her and walking them out the door. It was only after she was outside that I saw her shoulders shrink and she collapsed into Remus, her body shaking the only indication that she was crying.

"We'll go get some food from the kitchens," James said while grabbing my arm and pulling me towards the secret passage that would lead us to the underbelly of the castle.

"And I'll find some blankets and some of her stuff from the Common Room." Blair said without waiting for anyone to say their assenting. I also had a feeling that she was going to be finding Bree while she was at it. Sirius looked between us and shrugged his shoulders before coming with James and I to get to the kitchens.

We walked in silence for a moment until I felt all the anger that had been coursing through me since Laura had stepped into the Great Hall, the castle; our lives rush into my veins. Out of nowhere, I stopped and let out a very angered scream. Turning to look at me like I was crazy, James and Sirius stood a little bit away from me and glanced around to make sure no one was going to come cart me off.

"Alexa, I know you're upset," James started but I couldn't help it as I started to pace and walk back towards the way we had come. I heard them hustle to catch up with me but it was no use because I wasn't letting her get away with hurting us all again. "People were going to find out anyways." He said and I doubled my speed as I shoved the tapestry hiding the passageway out of my way.

"I don't care, James. This is the last time Bree will mess with anyone else's life or mine. I've had it and the bitch is going to get what's coming to her." I said as I passed outside the closed doors of the Great Hall and towards the stairs. "On what was supposed to be an epic night for you two and Remus, she had to come in and once again ruin _everything_. I don't say this lightly when I say that I absolutely _hate_ this girl."

Not knowing what was going on behind me, I continued hoping they had finally backed off. I was wrong, of course, and suddenly two strong arms had pulled me and spun me around into an equally hard chest. Feeling my anger drag out of me, I let Sirius squeeze me as I wrapped my arms around his back and hugged him close. "It's going to be okay, Alexa, she won't get away with anything else."

Shaking my head against his chest, I felt his chin rest on top of my head and could imagine him sharing a look with James. "And how are you going to do that," I asked while still holding onto Sirius as if he were my lifeline. In the back of my mind, I knew that this wasn't helping me to get over him, but at the moment I didn't care. Besides, there were bigger fish to fry here. No one answered and soon I let go of Sirius and gathered myself together before we made our way out to where Lyla and Remus were.

Lyla looked up and lifted her head from Blair's shoulder while Remus stopped his pacing in front of the large Beech tree that we had made our own. "Well, have any of you thought of a way to end all of this?" His voice was as angry as I had ever heard it and I tried to send him a reassuring look as I took a seat at my sister's other side and grabbed her hand. She squeezed and I sent her a smile to let her know I was there for her.

"Actually, Remus, we do. And I have a feeling that you, and everyone that Bree has ever hurt will enjoy this one." James said with a sadistic smile. Blair looked at the two boys curiously and James clarified the first thing we had to do to set our plan into motion. "All we need to do is get the _real _Laura on our side."

"And how do you plan to do that?" Lyla asked from her spot between Blair and I. Sirius smiled charmingly and shook his hair to fall slightly into his vision, casting shadows on his face in the moonlight and making him look hauntingly beautiful. "Just leave that one to me."

* * *

Author's Note: Well, shit is really wrapping up nicely now, isn't it? If you've got any questions, comments, concerns, etc. send them our way through messages or reviews and we'll hit you up! Have a good one and the last chapter before the sequel should be written and up sometime soon.

Adios (For the second to last time),

Baby Blue Eyes


	41. Can't Touch This

Disclaimer (for the last time): Well, as always, we are not British and we are not the woman who owns the Harry Potter franchise. But we do love to write stories about her characters.

Hello, good people of HPFF! Well, the day has finally come. As we submit the last chapter of this story I just want to thank all those who have stuck with our characters and us. You guys have made the experience that much more enjoyable. So, without further ado, here is the final chapter of Can't Touch This. Enjoy!

AmuletGirl

* * *

_You Can't Touch This_

_Lyla's Point of View_

"Look at her; she always seemed like such a nice girl. That's such a shame."

"I thought she was getting a bit large; I guess this explains it."

"I heard that the baby wasn't even his."

"Apparently, she got pregnant on purpose so Remus wouldn't leave her, especially after the whole Professor Wolfe thing."

The rumor mill at Hogwarts was astounding. Ever since the revealing of my secret the lies and accusations flowed freely like water from a never-ending stream. Everyday there was some new story and they only seemed to be getting more ridiculous by the day. I tried not to notice any of the rumors but it's kind of hard to ignore hundreds of eyes on you any time you walk into a room. I knew none of the rumors were true but they were starting to get to me a little bit.

The thing that irked me the most was how hypocritical everyone was. I mean, I was being treated like the only damn girl in this school that has had sex, and Lord knows that's not true. Yes, I'm the one who is pregnant, and I currently stand as the minority in that regard, but anyone of them could be next. And you better believe that I would never say to them any of the things they're saying to me. Such is life, I suppose.

I suspect Remus could tell that it was starting to bother me so he and the others were constantly trying to distract me with various things so I couldn't dwell on it too long. Lately I was extra busy and it did indeed keep me occupied and dulled my urges to lash out at any person who uttered a word about me. Unfortunately, we were finding, along with outlandish cravings, I was also quite susceptible to extreme mood swings, and that swinging pendulum could oh so easily be swayed to anger and rage. It's almost as if I was seeking out fights, which definitely wasn't like me, but lately, I wanted to argue about every little thing.

Alexa, being the baby that she is, instructed everyone not to indulge me in my need for verbal sparring. She told me that I needed to focus on studying for finals. Yes, my sister Alexa told _me_ to study for finals. In addition to finals we were all furiously working on the plan to get back at Bree. Déjà vu? Yeah, me too.

The plan was essentially to just mess with Bree's head to the point where she felt like she was going mad. We were all going to turn into Laura at one point or another and find Bree and terrorize her; beat her at her own game. Childish? Maybe. Effective? We hoped so. The first, and most crucial part, was to get Laura to agree to help us. Sirius had offered to take up this challenge and he felt sure that he could persuade her to be on our side.

So here I am sitting in the library with Remus and James attempting to study amongst all the scrutinizing stares. Didn't they have studying to do? As I read through my Transfiguration notes, Alexa came barreling toward us, a mountain of books stacked in her arms. She slammed the stack down on the table and blew her bangs out of her face; she looked a bit strung out. Slumping down into a chair she caught her breath.

"What is all this?" James asked, looking up from his Divination book and eyeing Alexa curiously.

Alexa pushed the hair out of her face and let out a huff. "James, that, my friend, is a years worth of knowledge from all of my classes. Finals are coming up and I need to do some serious studying," Alexa said grabbing the top book and opening it up. "Do you realize how much we covered this year?"

"You know, if you had been paying attention from the beginning of the year and studying all along you wouldn't have as much to cover now," I said critically as I turned the page. "I kept telling you that your poor study habits were going to bite you in the ass one day. But did you listen? Of course not."

Alexa looked at me as I waited for her to come back with some snappy sarcastic remark. She looked to Remus and then back to me. "You're right," she said, to my disappointment. "Lyls, I should have listened to you all along. I deserve having to study this much in such a short amount of time because I wasn't responsible enough to do it earlier." Who was this person? Had everyone gone crazy? Alexa wasn't defending her slacker ways, she just took my scolding, and she admitted that she should have been a little more responsible. This is madness I tell you!

I narrowed my eyes on Alexa and she just smiled back at me; a smile that I just wanted to smack right off her face. "That's it?" I questioned. "That's all you have to say? You're just going to admit that I'm right?"

"You _are_ right, my lovely sister," Alexa said as she began reading the first book of many. "I'm agreeing with you because you are right and I am wrong."

I went to respond but Remus quickly jumped in. "Lyls, just let it go," he said, looking up briefly from the essay he was writing. "Just let it go," he repeated. "Madame Pomfrey said you needed to try and stay calm, remember? And getting angry and fighting over silly things will definitely not help you remain calm." I raised my eyebrow at him and gave him a look. "I'm saying this for your benefit," he said carefully, "And for the baby," he quickly added. I rolled my eyes and decided to give it up.

"What about the baby?" Sirius asked as he came out of nowhere, sliding into the chair next to me with ease. "You know, I heard that the baby was actually mine today," he said, confessing to one of the rumors he had heard.

My eyes widened and Remus looked like he was about to kill Sirius. "Pads, you're not really helping right now," Remus warned him.

"Sorry, love," he said to me, "The jig is up." He threw me a wink and looked at Remus with a joking smile. "Moony, you would have found out sooner or later; when the kid came out with striking features and hair as black as night. It's better you found out now."

"Sirius!" I exclaimed, hitting him on the shoulder with my book. "Do not encourage these outlandish rumors! You are only fueling the fire."

Sirius threw his arm around me and laid his head on my shoulder. "Oh, Lyls, you know I'm only joking," Sirius said in a sincerely apologetic tone. "I will not bring up our love child again. You have my word." I grabbed Sirius's arm and removed it from my body while Remus shook his head disapprovingly at his friend. "Oh, and Alex, don't forget about our study session tonight. I'm not saying you're stupid, but Merlin knows you need my help."

"Whatever Black," Alexa said as she caught my calculating gaze and blushed slightly. "I won't forget." Before anyone could say anything else, Alexa slid down a little in her chair and hid her face with her large book that she had been reading. Alexa hadn't told me that she and Sirius were going to be studying together, but I wouldn't say anything right now.

"Where have you been all day Padfoot?" James asked, abandoning his studies for the time being.

Sirius stretched out his arms and leaned his chair back to balance on the back to legs. As he teetered back and forth he said, "Well, Prongs, I have been studying of course." We all looked to Sirius who just stared back at us with a blank face. A moment later he was laughing. "I'm only joking," he said, "Why would I spend this beautiful day stuck in a pile of books when I could be scheming and making sure our plan for Bree goes off without a hitch?"

"What did you do?" Remus questioned. "Please tell me you didn't do anything stupid that I'm going to have to cover up to keep you from getting expelled."

"At ease, Moony," he said assuring Remus. "I have done nothing wrong," he said casually, "In the eyes of some people." Remus raised his eyes at him and James and I just laughed, Alexa all the while remained glued to her book. She was really taking this studying thing seriously. We'd see how long that would last. "All I did was use my ridiculously good looks, my charming charisma, and my obvious sex appeal to coerce certain people into doing what I want them to do. Now, is there any fault in that?"

Alexa snickered from behind her paper wall, but I think I was the only one who heard it. "So, what lucky lady got to be charmed by good ole Padfoot, you ask? Well, friends, as according to plan, Laura is officially on our side and willing and ready to help." We all nodded in approval for Sirius coming through on his part of the plan. "I'll say this though, the real Laura is nothing like the fake Laura; she was actually quite charming, once she got over that weird hyperventilating nervous thing."

James cleared his throat and sat forward with a smirk. "Well, to be fair Pads, you thought the fake Laura was pretty charming as well," James said with a slight laugh.

Sirius looked over to Alexa, who still wasn't showing herself, and looked rather guilty. "That cuts me to the core, Prongsie," Sirius said, clutching his chest in pain. "I see the error of my ways now, and in my defense, Bree-Laura was charming when she was around me; she was just a conniving bitch to all of you." Sirius was right; Bree could fake niceness with the best of them. She was only nice to those she deemed fit to be worthy, and Sirius was always one of those people.

"So, now that Sirius has gotten Laura to agree to work with us, what's next boss?" James asked, looking to me.

I pushed all my school stuff away from me and leaned forward on my elbows. "The next part is a bit trickier," I told them honestly. "We are going to have to procure some polyjuice potion from Slughorn's storeroom; and believe me, it won't be easy."

"Now, I could be wrong here, but seeing as polyjuice is a potion, couldn't we just whip us up a batch and call it a day?" Sirius asked.

"We could," Remus said, taking this question, "However, not only is brewing it illegal but it also takes months to do so; time that we don't have. We need to do this soon; school is nearly out. It just makes more sense to get some that Slughorn has already made."

"Alright," Sirius said, accepting what he had just heard, "So let's go pay Sluggy a visit and get the damn potion."

"It's not that simple, Sirius," I tried to explain. "Polyjuice potion is not something that Slughorn is just going to have lying around. He keeps all the dangerous and highly potent potions in a special locked cabinet that only he has the key to. He never even let me include it in my inventory."

"Well, as I see it, we can just sit around here and discuss how difficult and impossible it will be to get the key to our plan, or we can go try to get what we need," Sirius standing up from the table. "Personally, I think doing something is a far more productive option than just sitting on our asses." Sirius stepped away from his chair and extended his hand to me. "Come Lyls, we have a potion to steal."

I gave Sirius a smile and took his hand. We bid our fellow conspirators goodbye and made our way for Slughorn's office. "So do you have a particular plan as to how we're going to get the polyjuice potion?" I asked as we walked through the corridors.

"Not a clue," he said with a laugh. "I figured we'd just play it by ear. Exciting, isn't it?" He gave me a playful nudge and continued to laugh. "Now, tell me, do you know where he keeps this key to unlock the cabinet?"

"He has it on him at all times," I told him. "It's attached to his pocket watch." Sirius nodded, making a mental note. We walked for a bit in silence but then I remembered something that was said earlier. "So, Sirius, you're studying with Alexa tonight?" I asked, trying to keep my tone casual.

"Right you are, Lyla," he said, all the while not looking at me.

"So, you guys will be doing this studying together?" I pressed further.

"Yes, together."

"In the same room?"

"I would assume so, Lyla, what is it that you really want to ask me?" Sirius said, finally turning his head to meet my stare.

"Nothing in particular," I told him, pulling my hair over my shoulder. "I just wasn't aware that you two were on speaking terms, especially not on good enough terms to be studying together. I just think it's great that you guys are patching things up."

Sirius let his head hang a little as he thought about what I had said. "She needed help and I was the first one to offer," he said, a certain sadness in his voice. "That's all there is to it. I'm just helping her with some school stuff; this doesn't change anything."

As we came up to Slughorn's door I put a hand on Sirius's shoulder to stop him for a minute. "She could have said no and asked someone else, you know," I told him.

He let out a sigh and then looked at the door before us. "You ready to do this?" he asked, changing the subject. I nodded, seeing the desperation in his eyes to stop all talk of Alexa. Sirius knocked on the door and a few minutes later our jovial teacher appeared.

"Why, good evening Mr. Black, and a good evening to you as well, Ms. Parker," Slughorn said with a wide smile. "Please, come in, come in." We followed Slughorn into the interworkings of his office and he led us to some chairs that were situated in front of a fire. "What can I do for you two this evening?"

Sirius and I looked at each other, and I quickly jumped in. "Well, Sir, I have been studying for my exams and reviewing all the potions we've learned in class. I went to do the color changing potion we did at the beginning of the year and I find that I don't have any dragonfly wings, so I was hoping I could just pop into the storeroom and get a few."

"Very prudent of you, Ms. Parker, very prudent indeed," he said approvingly. "No doubt you are one of the most naturally talented at potions, but your practice shows that you are always looking to improve; a trait that will carry you far." I gave him a nod of thanks as he switched his gaze to Sirius. "And what about you Mr. Black, for what purpose have you come to my office?"

Sirius paused for a moment, looking for the right words to say. Sirius eased into a charming smile and leaned forward slightly. "To be honest with you Professor," Sirius said, "I just wanted to see you." I rolled my eyes as discretely as possible. "And you may not know this Sir, but you just so happen to be my favorite teacher, you're such an inspiration." Oh man, he sure was laying it on thick. Slughorn seemed to be radiating light as he basked in Sirius's flattery.

"Well, Sirius, my boy, what an honor," he said gratefully. "You know, I've always thought you were destined for great things; you and your brother alike. I must admit that I was slightly disappointed that I couldn't have the pair of you in my house." At this, Sirius tried to fight back a scowl at the mention of his brother. "However, even though you were destined to be a Gryffindor, I'm here if you ever need guidance or assistance. I've been around a long time and I know my way around."

Sirius opened his mouth and then closed it bringing his hand to his chest as if he was shocked by what he just heard. "Oh Professor, do you mean it?" he asked. "Wow, Sir, that's incredible, thank you so much. Having you as a mentor, there is no doubt in my mind that I will go far." I discretely elbowed Sirius trying to remind him why we were actually here. "Oh, Sir, is that a pocket watch there?" he asked, not so subtly changing the subject.

Slughorn was thrown off at first but then pulled out the ornate gold watch and chain from his pocket. "Yes it is my pocket watch," Slughorn said as he held the watch in his hand. I could see the small gold key attached to the chain. "It's been passed down in my family for generations; very old."

"May I?" Sirius asked, signaling to the watch. Slug nodded his head as he handed the gold accessory to Sirius. "This is quite beautiful, Sir. What are all these carvings on it?"

"Now, that is a very interesting story; a very interesting story indeed," Slughorn muttered, a sense of nostalgia in his voice. I felt a long and tedious story coming on. He was infamous for his increasingly long explanations and stories that never failed to sufficiently bore the person on the other end of the conversation. "You see, when the watch was first brought into the family it was plain and ordinary, no carvings at all. But we Slughorns have a way of seeing the extraordinary in seemingly ordinary things."

Before Sluggy could continue Sirius quickly jumped in. "I don't mean to interrupt this enthralling story, which I insist you continue, but would you mind if I removed this key to better see all the details?" Slughorn hesitated, clearly not sure if he should allow the key to be removed. "I'm just so fascinated by it," Sirius added for good measure. I held my breath as we waited for a response.

Finally, Slug smiled and laughed his bellowing laugh. "Why, of course my good boy," he told Sirius. Sirius smiled victoriously and carefully removed the latchkey from the slim flaxen chain. Sirius placed the key on his upper thigh and then leaned forward slightly closer to our dear potions professor, using his elbow to hide the object from Slughorn's view. I smiled slightly at this then cautiously moved only my hand over to wear it sat. I grabbed the key quickly and then stood up.

"I'm going to run and get those dragonfly wings while you two talk," I announced. Slughorn just nodded and waved me off as he started back into his story. When I got over to the store room, I looked back to where I had just been and Sirius sent me a wink and then turned back to the jolly old man before him faking interest as best he could.

Once inside the storeroom, I walked past all the vials and bottles that lined the wall and made my way to the very back of the room where there stood a glass cabinet with gold trim. I ran my finger over the small keyhole and then took the key I had been hiding in my hand. The key slipped easily into the orifice and turned with a slight click.

Before I opened the doors I looked behind me just to make sure no one was around. I scanned the countless bottles that had made their home in this glass house and finally found the one labeled 'Polyjuice Potion'. The dark opaque bottle felt like it was full when I picked it up. I decided that taking the bottle would be too risky; if Slughorn happened to notice it was gone it would just cause unnecessary problems.

I place the bottle back in its place, temporarily, and ventured to the shelves that held the common everyday ingredients. Towards the bottom of one of the ledges there was a box full of empty bottles, all that I've cleaned at one point or another. I grabbed one and quickly returned to the glass cupboard. I attentively transferring the contents of the original bottle to the one I had just taken. The original bottle was thankfully dark enough that you couldn't tell that it was now empty, so I placed it back amongst its peers, making note to put it exactly as it was, and then closed the glass doors once again.

I stowed the bottle into my robes and made my way back to the door, making sure nothing was out of place. After grabbing a few dragonfly wings I closed the door to the storeroom behind me and went back to where Sluggy was still telling Sirius the incredibly fascinating story. Sirius had a blank look on his face and he was just staring and nodded. When he saw me come around the couch his face lit up and he sat up a little straighter.

I nodded toward the door letting him know that I got the potion. Sitting back down on the couch, I slipped the key back onto Sirius's leg and looked to Slughorn who was talking about his Great Grandfather Cornelius who lost a leg to a Minotaur. Sirius looked at me in pain, his eyes desperately asking me to get us the hell out of there. "Excuse me, Professor," I interrupted, "I hate to cut this riveting story short, but Sirius and I have an appointment with Professor McGonagall concerning some house stuff and I would hate to be late." As I spoke, Sirius slyly reattached the key back to the pocket watch.

Slug looked quite sad as I broke the news to him. He looked at Sirius and then to the watch. "But of course," he said, taking the watch from Sirius's grasp. "I wouldn't want to make you tardy."

Sirius stood up before another story could start and brought me up with him. "Professor, thank you so much for the story," Sirius said with haste. "I can honestly say that I have never heard anything like it." Slughorn smiled as he walked Sirius and I to the door.

"I quite enjoyed the company as well, my boy," he expressed. "Feel free to stop by whenever you like and maybe some time I could finish telling you that story."

Smiling nervously, Sirius quickly said, "Oh, Sir, I wouldn't want to impose," he said laughing slightly, "You're quite a busy man."

"Sir," I jumped in as I made my way out of the room, "I will personally make sure Sirius comes back to hear the rest of that story. I know Sirius," At this I smiled up at Sirius and squeezed his arm, "And I know that he wouldn't want to disappoint his favorite teacher."

"Splendid, absolutely splendid," Slughorn said loudy. "Good evening you two, and stay out of trouble Mr. Black."

"Will do, Sir," Sirius shouted as we hastened down the corridor. "'He wouldn't want to disappoint his favorite teacher,'" Sirius said imitating me as we headed back to the library where the others were waiting. "What the hell was that about? The last thing I want to do is go back and hear the rest of that story."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Hey, you were the one that was selling that bit," I spoke through my laughter, patting Sirius on the back. "I was just backing you up." Sirius continued to complain about my throwing him under the proverbial bus.

We discovered, upon our return, that Blair and Peter had joined the studying in the library. As Sirius and I took our seats, everyone anxiously sought the results of our endeavor. "Well?" James asked.

Sirius looked at me nervously and then back to James with a defeated look. "Piece of cake," he said slipping into a face that was far too satisfied with itself. "Alright, let's run through this. Laura, check. Polyjuice potion, check. Now all we have to do is get this thing done."

"I say we do it tomorrow," I suggested. "Let's just get this over with so we can finally be done with her. In the morning, Sirius, you will need to go to Laura and get some hair for the potion and tell her that it doesn't matter if she stays hidden or not, her being around will probably just mess with Bree even more."

Alexa slammed a book shut and looked up at me with tired eyes that honestly looked a little crazy from all the reading. "So we're all just going to show up and mess with her; easy enough," Alexa said.

"Well, actually, not all of us," Remus said, a cautious tone drifting in his words. I looked at him questioningly, but no one else seemed to be confused by this. "We were _all_ talking about it, all of us, and we think it best if you didn't take the Polyjuice potion and become Laura."

My jaw clenched together and I could feel my blood start to boil. "Pardon me?" I question. "Are you saying that I can't be a part of a plan that I helped create and that I can't drink the potion that I just stole?" I accused, looking around at all my traitorous friends. "You all decided this did you?"

"Lyla, it just makes sense," Blair said apologetically. "We don't know how you taking the potion and transforming will affect the baby and we just don't think it's worth the risk."

"So, I don't get a say in this at all?" I asked, getting a little angrier.

"No," Remus said definitively. I looked at him with shocked eyes. Staying as placid as he could, he continued, "I'm not going to argue about this; the decision is no. End of discussion."

I looked out the window and shook my head, biting back the urge to just go nuts. "What discussion? I don't think I was included in any sort of discussion. For it to be a discussion, both sides get to have equal say, and I got none. This is ridiculous," I spat at them. I pulled the hidden bottle out of my robes and slammed it on the table. I knew I was blowing this out of proportion, but it still made me mad. It was like people just assumed that because I'm pregnant, I'm incapable of making good decisions or doing things for myself.

"Lyla, it's not that big of a deal, you're still a part of all this, just this part you're not going to be able to do," Sirius said nonchalantly, trying to calm me down.

I stood up in preparation to storm off but I turned to Sirius first. "You're hair looks stupid," I said childishly as I stalked off out of the library.

"That's the anger talking," I heard Sirius say. Followed by Remus saying, "I'll be right back." Remus quickly caught up with me and pulled me off to the side by a large window away from the traffic of the busy corridor. "Are you upset with me?" he asked, looking down at me. I nodded my head, as I tried to keep my angry face on. "Would you forgive me if I told you that the reason I don't want you doing this is because I'm afraid that something could happen to cause me to lose you or the baby?"

I bit my lip and looked away from him. "Maybe," I said quietly. Remus smiled at me like he knew I would give in. I shoved him slightly and rolled my eyes. "I just don't want to be left out," I confessed. "I know that once the baby gets here, and even later in my pregnancy, I'm not going to be able to do all the stuff with you guys that I used to be able to do, but right now, I still can."

"No one is trying to leave you out," Remus said, brushing my hair off my face. "And I can guarantee you that with James and Sirius around, you will still get into some crazy stuff even after the baby is born." I laughed slightly knowing that he was right. "I promise you that you will have a vital role to play in this prank and will be there with us all tomorrow, just without the Polyjuice potion. Deal?" I nodded again, feeling bad, now, about freaking out. "Now," he said, taking my hand and walking me back to the library. "I think you owe Sirius an apology; he was rather hurt by what you said."

That next day we were all on edge when we woke up, our minds reeling with excitement. We all gathered, with the addition of the real Laura, in the boys' dorm to discuss the last minute details. We had the plan pretty much laid out but there were some specifics that had to be worked out.

"Everything is in place," James started off the meeting. "We all know what to do but we need to decide in what order we are going to go."

"Okay, look, I'm all in this plan and can't wait to mess with Bree, but I _have_ to study," Alexa said imperatively. "My potions final is first and Lord knows I'm not exactly a potions master."

"Alex, don't worry about it, I already asked James if you could go last so you could have time to study," Sirius told Alexa, trying to placate her. "I've drawn up a little timetable for you that has all your exams and times that you will be studying so you don't get off track." Sirius removed a piece of parchment from his pocket and handed it to Alexa. She smiled shyly at him and stowed the timetable in her robes.

"So," James said, continuing on the original subject, "I was thinking Blair could go first, followed by Remus." Blair and Remus nodded in compliance. "Then we'll have Sirius and Peter go, with myself going after them; and then, the grand finale. That's where you come in, Alexa, you'll come in, do your thing and then we'll blow this shit out of the water. It's really quite a work of art." I smiled at James's enthusiasm and he turned to me. "And of course, we can't forget the brains behind all this, Lyla will of course be nearby every encounter, just in case something happens to go wrong." And here I was afraid that things would change now that I'm pregnant, but it seems that I'm still on damage control.

"Now that that's all settled, let's do the damn thing," Sirius said, overly excited. "You know how I get before a big prank." As Sirius requested, we all set off to set our plan in motion. Sirius and Alexa headed to the library, a heap of books in tow, and Blair and Remus came with me. The real Laura had told us that she had received a note from Bree telling her to meet her in the girl's bathroom on the second floor this morning.

When we were a little ways down the hall from the bathroom, Remus, Blair and I moved over to the side of the corridor to get out of the way. I pulled out the bottle of Polyjuice potion and two small metal cups. "Are you guys ready for this?" I asked them. Not that they really had a choice. They both nodded as I poured some liquid into their cups and then placed a few hairs into each.

"What's this going to taste like?" Blair asked, smelling the contents of her cup. I shrugged my shoulders, not able to offer her any help.

"Okay, so Blair, try to keep it short and simple; we don't want to spend too long with her," I instructed. "And Remus you wait outside the bathroom, but keep yourself out of sight for now. I'll be under the invisibility cloak so if you need an out at any point just do the signal and I'll try to help, somehow." They nodded yet again. "Well, bottoms up."

Blair and Remus drank the potion in their cups and within minutes they began to transform before my eyes, all the while trying to rid their mouths of the taste that was left behind. Before I knew it, there were two identical Lauras standing before me, one my best friend and the other, my fiancé, I shuddered at the sight of them. It was just too weird.

I just gaped at the two people in front of me. "What's wrong?" Remus asked.

"You're a girl," I stated obviously, reaching out to touch his face, to confirm that all this was real.

"Believe me, I dilike it just as much as you do, and it's only temporary," he assured me. "So do I pass as a girl?"

"Make your voice a little higher and put on the clothes that Lyla brought and no one will know the difference," Blair said. Suddenly reminded of the clothes I had stashed in my bag I quickly pulled them out. I handed the skirt to Remus and the Hufflepuff ties to the both of them.

Once they had changed, it was time to go. Remus ducked behind a large statue as Blair and I, me hidden under the cloak, entered the bathroom where Bree was already waiting. Bree turned to face us, and immediately she had a look of displeasure on her face. "And where have you been?" she said shortly. "You're late."

"I… I know," Blair said timidly, sounding almost exactly like Laura. "I'm so sorry, I was studying for exams. But I'm here now and you needed to speak to me?"

"Right," she said, reminded of why she was here. "Look, I'm going to need you to do something for me in a few days. As like all the other times, I can't tell you what I need you to do quite yet and you won't remember what you do after the fact, but I'm just letting you know that Andy and I will be in touch with you soon." She told Laura, or Blair.

Blair didn't respond, she just watched Bree intently. "Have you lost the ability to speak?" Bree asked, annoyed. "What is wrong with you today, you're acting weirder than usual."

"Oh, sorry," Blair quickly spat out. "I'm just a little—."

"Look, I don't care that much," Bree said, turning her back to us and looking at herself in the mirror. Pulling out a tube of lip gloss, Bree added, "You can leave now."

"Right," Blair said, "I'm just going to use the bathroom real quick." Bree didn't even acknowledge Blair as she spoke and Blair gave me a discrete nod and slipped into a bathroom stall. At this I tiptoed out of the bathroom and briefly exposed myself to let Remus know that he was on.

Bree came out of the bathroom and Remus sprung into action. As Bree approached Remus, she didn't see him as she put her lip gloss back into her pocket. "Hey, Bree," Remus said nervously. Bree looked up and stopped mid-step. She looked at Remus, highly confused.

"Didn't I just tell you to leave?" Bree asked, cocking her hip out into her signature bitch stance.

"No," Remus said, "You didn't." Bree went to say something but quickly decided against it. "This is the first time I'm seeing you, but I understand, exams are coming up, it's just that stressful time of year." Bree shook her head and looked back at the bathroom trying to make sense of everything. "Are you okay?"

Bree tucked her hair behind her ears and fiddled with the ends of her hair. "Um, I have to go," Bree said as she quickly took off down the corridor.

When she turned a corner out of sight, I pulled the cloak off myself and smiled at Remus. I ran into the bathroom to get Blair and we joined Remus once again in the corridor. "You guys were phenomenal," I praised them. Blair and Remus expressed their thanks as I handed the cloak to Remus. "Now, I think it best if we get you two back up to the dorms before other people see you, especially together."

Remus draped the cloak over himself and Blair and then we headed back to the dorms. Sirius and Peter were waiting patiently on their beds when we arrived and Remus removed the cloak, handing it back to me. "Bloody hell," Sirius said in amazement. "One of them is Moony?" he asked, looking like he was going to break out into a fit of laughter at any moment.

"Yes," Remus said dejectedly. "But I'd keep all your comments to yourself because here in a few minutes the high heels will be on the other foot, my dear Padfoot."

"Point taken, Moons, well played," Sirius said. "So, are Pete and I up next?" he asked, grabbing Peter and slinging an arm around his shoulders. "We're ready to do some damage." Peter smiled weakly, going along with his friend.

"Did you check the map to see where Bree was?" I asked.

"Why yes we did," Sirius informed me. "She is currently sitting in the front courtyard right outside the main doors. And she is conveniently alone." Sirius smiled mischievously and then pulled Peter and me along with him. "See you guys soon, ladies!" he shouted as we headed down the stairs.

After giving Peter and Sirius their dose of Polyjuice potion, Sirius and I headed out into the courtyard while Peter stayed right inside the door. Safely hidden beneath the cloak, I followed Sirius as he walked toward Bree who was biting her fingernails on a bench. Bree looked up as Sirius's shadow covered Bree's face. Her hand dropped from her mouth and her eyes narrowed. "Alright, Laura, what the hell happened earlier?" she asked.

"No, Bree," Sirius said forcefully. Even though I knew it was actually Sirius, it was still weird hearing such an assertive voice come out of Laura. "It's my turn to talk and your turn to listen." Bree sank back a bit, clearly just as shocked by what she was hearing as I initially was. "I've had enough with you and Andy pushing me around. I have no clue what you two are making me do, but I'm telling you right now that I'm done. I am not some puppet that you can send to do your bidding." Sirius turned to leave but stopped. "You are a mean person and stay away from me." Turning again, Sirius quickly made his way back into the castle, and I quickly trailed. "Laura, wait right there." Bree said this as the door to the castle closed behind us.

"Your turn Peter," I said quietly. I lifted the cloak quickly and allowed Sirius to get under it and we moved slightly away from the door.

When Bree came busting into the castle, Peter just stood there panic-stricken. "What the hell was that?" Bree exclaimed. "What makes you think that you can just say those things to me and get away with it? Let me tell you something, you can't. No one talks to me that way and gets away with it."

Peter just started to stutter and I hoped that he could actually get some semblance of a sentence out. "Bree, I don't know what you're talking about, I was just heading into the Great Hall."

Bree's eyes widened and she looked fit for murder. "Don't play dumb with me you little prat," she said through clenched teeth. "You were just outside telling me that I was a horrible person and for me to stay away from you."

"Oh, my," Peter said, clearly scared. "I… I… I would n-never say that," Peter confessed, honestly. In reality, Peter would never have the confidence to say those things to another person. The poor boy was just too damn scared of almost everything. "Look, you and Andy told me that I had to do what you say and that's all I've ever done."

Bree let out a strangled, frustrated scream. She pushed Peter aside and took off, pushing poor little second years out of the way. Sirius and I went over to where Peter was standing, trembling a little. "Well done, Wormtail," Sirius said. Peter smiled and nodded his head and then we made our way back to the dormitories where James and the real Laura should be waiting.

I dropped Sirius and Peter off at the dorms and collected James. James and I headed to the library were Bree was currently sitting alone at the very back, in a very secluded area. Now looking like Laura, James headed over to the table that Bree was seated at. Bree was sitting there with her head in her hands and she was rubbing her temples. Poor girl looked like she was having a rough day.

Bree looked up as James stood over her and she rolled her eyes and let out a groan. "Not you again," she said shifting in her seat. "I don't know what you're playing at, but I'm getting a little sick of you following me around. Just leave me alone."

"Oh, I'm sorry," James said calmly. "I thought that ever since your parents got divorced you couldn't stand to be alone."

Bree's mouth dropped open and she looked up at James with narrow eyes. "Who told you that?" she questioned. James didn't say a word. "Who the hell told you that?" she asked again, more foreful this time.

James ignored her question. "Meet me up on the seventh floor by the portrait of Merlin in ten minutes." With that, James turned and walked away, leaving her in utter shock. James and I met back out in the corridor where I removed the cloak.

"Get the others and meet me up on the seventh floor," I told him. "I'm going to get Alexa and you need to make sure you all stay hidden." He nodded and then headed in the direction of Gryffindor Tower. I reentered the library, this time in plain sight. I found Alexa with ease and took a seat at the table. Just as I sat down, I saw Bree racing toward the door of the library.

"Hey, Alex," I said. She just waved me off as she furiously scribbled something on some parchment while simultaneously reading a book. "I see the studying is going well." She mumbled something unrecognizable. "It's your turn in the prank," I told her. "You're the last piece to the puzzle, so come on." She still didn't move. She was completely glued to the book in front of her. "Alexa, we're kind of on a tight schedule here."

"Just one more page," she pleaded as she turned the page. I shook my head, reached across the table to earmark the page and then closed the book. "Lyla! What the hell?" she exclaimed. "I don't even remember what I just read, thanks to you; you totally interrupted my flow."

"Well, you can cry about it later," I told her, pulling her from her seat. As we neared the seventh floor, I gave Alexa a very small portion of the potion. I slipped the cloak back on and Alexa gave me a wink before she stepped into the main corridor of the seventh floor, the portrait of Merlin hanging gloriously in the center. Bree was pacing in front of it and Alexa walked toward her like a cat stalking its prey.

"What do you want from me?" Bree questioned.

"I know," Alexa stated simply. "I know everything. All the terrible things you've done while pretending to be me, all the times you made me forget and all the times you stole and soiled my identity. I remember everything, Bree." Alexa stopped right before Bree. "What you did was wrong and cruel. You ruined people's lives and were brutally mean to them. My only question for you is why? Why did you do it?"

Bree looked off to the side and looked back to Alexa. She looked like she had just been found stealing a cookie before dinner as a kid. "I guess I was jealous," she said quietly. "And I was mad and bitter. I really loved Sirius and he broke my heart and left me for Alexa." I watched Alexa cautiously, who knew what it would take to make her snap. "The plan worked for a while. I broke them up. They were all stupid enough to believe that you had actually done it; but Sirius still didn't love me."

"You know, I don't think they're as stupid as you think," Alexa said.

"Oh yeah?" she laughed slightly. "How so?"

"You didn't think we'd figure it out?" A second Laura appeared and joined Alexa. Bree looked bemused.

"And not expect us to get you back for all that you put us through?" A third Laura.

"You really hurt people this time, Bree." In walked the fourth Laura. I had no idea who was who, but I watched with rapture.

"Jealousy can make people do unthinkable things, like turn against people they used to care about." Laura number five entered.

"Now, you have to see if you can live with the guilt of knowing that you ruined people's relationships and completely mortified some of the only people who were ever kind to you." The last Laura was in place. All six Lauras were standing in a head before Bree who looked so scared.

I removed the cloak and walked toward the group. "We've had enough of your petty jealousy, Bree," I said as I moved to the front of my friends. "I'm sorry for whatever caused you to hate us so much, but it needs to end. I know somewhere deep inside you, there is still the Bree that could be quite sweet when she wanted to be; and for your sake, I hope you find her.

"You talk about wanting Sirius and other people to love you, but the truth is, no one could love you while you're this ugly on the inside. I forgive you for telling the entire school that I'm pregnant, but your dealings with us ends here tonight. Don't try to retaliate and don't even talk to us. After tonight I want nothing to do with you."

Bree looked down at her shoes and then back up to me. "It was you guys the entire day?" she questioned, already knowing the answer. I looked around and slowly my friends were returning to their natural states. "I thought I was going mad." We all just stared back at her. She began to nervously back away, looking behind her every so often. "I'm sorry," she whispered as she turned and scurried off.

As she disappeared, I got the most wonderful feeling that that chapter of our lives was finally done, never to be revisited again.

* * *

_Alexa's Point of View_

_Part Two_

Slamming my hand down on the table, I glared at the ebony haired boy that was seated across from me with a weary look on his otherwise flawless face. "Answer the question, Alexa, and please, for the love of Merlin, actually use your brain before you speak." My face pinched as I tried fruitlessly to think of the answer. We had been studying in the library for up to four hours now, the same dreaded subject that was supposed to be my first exam bright and early tomorrow morning. Over the past week or so since the prank, Sirius, Remus, and occasionally James had taken it on as their mission to help me pass. So far, I had been the worst student ever.

"Lace wing flies?" I posed my answer as a question and watched as Sirius' face fell. Moaning in anguish as I dropped my head into my hands, I closed my eyes and shook my head vigorously. "I'm going to fail! And then I'm going to have to repeat sixth year. Or worse, I'll have to drop out of school. I'll have to assume a new identity to escape the shame! Why won't my head retain any of this information? I promise I'm trying!" As I started to panic, I heard Sirius shut the potions book we were studying from and come around the other side of the library table to where I was sitting.

"Alexa, I'm not going to let you fail." He said quietly while looking around as my hysterics caused a few of the people in the library turned to look at us. Rolling their eyes while some glared, they lost interest quickly after seeing that it was just someone worried about their studies. "But the exam is tomorrow." I said as I looked up at him, worry in my eyes. He nodded quickly and then abruptly pulled me out of my chair. "Where are we going?" I asked in nervousness as he left our bags and everything where they lay and dragged me along through the library shelves by my wrist.

"We're going on a covert mission to see what the people in this library really get up to in the restricted section. And then, when we do find them, we're going to jump out and scare the shit out of them." I rolled my eyes as he smiled deviously.

"You literally have the maturity level of a fish." I said and he sent me a look that told me to keep my mouth shut, lest we get caught and are not able to scare the victims. He looked around quickly before tapping the pane that would let him into the restricted section and we were off again. As we skidded to a stop near the human transfiguration section, my skirt billowed around me and I almost slammed into his back. Putting my hand on the taller boys shoulder, I lifted myself to my tiptoes to see around him.

"Bingo." He whispered and I could just see the evil glint in his eyes. The couple in front of us was shrouded by books, but I could tell the way the girl was sitting on the table in front of the boy and the hands that were in her hair, they were doing anything but studying. Starting to feel uncomfortable by spying on such an intimate moment, I brought myself back to the balls of my feet and steadied myself as Sirius turned around.

"Who is it?" I asked, hoping he'd realize that if it was a Slytherin and we got caught we were so dead. He waved my question away and began to explain his plan to me.

"Now, what we're going to do is wait for the opportune moment and then, on my signal, we will jump out and scare the living shit out of these people." He was whispering and I nodded along, trying to think of why this would be a good idea at all. As if he knew what I was thinking, Sirius rolled his eyes at me. "Would you rather be studying right now? Your exam is tomorrow morning and, in all honesty, cramming non-stop will only burn you out before the test. Enjoy this break while it lasts."

Nodding along, I motioned for him to continue. Leading me through some more shelves so that we were now closer to the couple, we stopped once more until he deemed it a good time to jump out. "Well, are we going to do this or what?" I asked him quietly while we stood elbow to elbow peering through the shelves.

"Oh, we will, but first you have to answer this question correctly otherwise you don't get to participate." Narrowing my eyes and looking at him skeptically, he started to back out to where people would see him. "What is the last ingredient that has to be used in a sleeping draught?"

Wracking my brain, I tried desperately to think of the ingredients name as he exposed himself more and more. My hands started to shake as I realized he was going to have all the fun without me and without realizing what I was doing, I shouted out the answer just as he yelled 'Gotcha,' at the couple sitting at the table.

As the couple screamed, one much higher pitched than the other, Sirius congratulated me on a job well done. "See I knew you would get the answer as long as you didn't stress about it too much." He said while pulling me into a one-armed hug and rubbing his knuckles across the top of my head. I swatted at his hand and extracted myself from under his arm as I looked at the no-longer-happy couple in front of us.

Sitting with a flushed face and wide brown eyes was Blair and as she bit her already red lips and blushed, she was rolling her eyes. "You two are impossible. And shouldn't you be studying, Alexa? And you helping her, Sirius?" I bit my lip under her scrutiny but her eyes were laughing so I knew she wasn't mad. James, however, was a completely different story. As he stood from his spot and traipsed his way towards us, I saw the fierce determination in his eyes.

"Well, lovely of you all to stop by, but you really ought to be going." As he pushed us, forcefully, out of the Restricted Section, he lowered his voice so Blair, who was telling me good luck and that she'd see me for her studying shift, couldn't hear him. "Alexa, I'm not going to help you study because that was the cock-block of the century." I went to let out a sound of protest but he cut me off. "Sirius, that was a serious, mind the pun, offense to a fellow marauder. We're calling a meeting when I get back to the dorms."

With that, he shoved us out of the door to the Restricted Section and shut the door behind him. "Wow. What a prick. What am I supposed to do _now_? He's the best chance I had at getting a passing grade in Arithmancy!" I crossed my arms over my chest as we walked back to our seats. As I sat down with a huff, Sirius brushed some of his dark hair out of the way and pushed a couple of books towards me with a grin.

"You let me worry about James. He's just being dramatic. Besides, I'm sure if he doesn't want to help you Lyla, Remus, and I could figure it all out. Now," With a firm push and a flick of his wand, my potions books were all open and ready to study from. "Let's get back to business."

Holding my breath, I clutched the potion vial in my hand as I waited my turn to give the proctor my finished potion the next morning after the practical part of the potion's exam. Taking a quick glance around the room, I saw that there were only a few people left besides myself and, not for the first or even the second time that day, I started to second guess myself. Had I let the potion brew for too long before adding in the second clockwise turn? What if instead of a calming draught I had put in the wrong ingredients and made something dangerous? What if I _killed _him?

Panicking, I was about to turn around and head back to my desk when I heard Slughorn's voice call out my name. "Ms. Parker? I believe you are next. Please step up and hand the proctor your potion." Nodding my head quickly, I handed the man my potion before stepping back and watching as the Ministry Official uncorked the bottle and first smelled the brew before tilting it to his mouth and swallowing a bit.

Biting my lip, I twisted my hands around in my lap nervously as all of our eyes stayed glued to the man in front of me. "Possibly a few minutes more before I would have added the first counter-turn, but it's passable and I can feel the calming effects." Breathing out a sigh of relief, I smiled at Slughorn and then thanked the Official before bolting out the door with my bag.

Once outside the Potion's classroom, I looked at the five waiting faces and smiled as wide as I could. "I totally passed potions!" I watched as their faces turned into stark relief and put my hands on my hips. "Hey now, with all this relief you'd think that you all had no faith in me at all."

"Oh, we had faith in you; faith that you would somehow screw this up royally and not be able to proceed in potions next year." James said with a grin, teasing me as I pulled a face at him.

"And who's to say that I want to continue potions with you freaks next year?" I questioned back to them as we started to walk away from the dungeons and towards the Great Hall for lunch before we started to study for Herbology and Transfiguration. I would study for Transfiguration with Sirius and Lyla, while Remus and James helped Blair cram for her Defense test, which was that afternoon. Then after studying for a bit, Sirius and Lyla would go to take their History of Magic test and James and I would study for Herbology.

Looking at me as she walked with her hand in Remus', Lyla raised an eyebrow. "What exactly are you planning to do with your life after Hogwarts then? Like, what did you answer McGonagall when she asked you about it at the beginning of the year?" I thought back to the beginning of the year and how much I had dreaded that meeting with our much older Head of House. When it clicked, I shrugged as we continued into the Great Hall.

It was not even half way full as students could come and go as they pleased, using it to study in, grab a bite, or just unwind after tests. We took a seat at our usual spot at the Gryffindor table and I grabbed for a turkey sandwich. "Well, to be completely honest I think I told her that I'd like to work in an Apothecary or something like that for the Ministry." I took a bite of my sandwich and looked at the disbelief written on all of my friends' faces.

"Alexa, did that blonde dye sink too far into your scalp or are you kidding us?" Remus asked while helping himself to some of the potatoes sitting next to Sirius, who was also watching me with a look of amusement on his face. I made a noise of protest as I swallowed my mouthful and turned to James who was rolling his eyes from beside me.

"You would need potions to work in an Apothecary, Al." He laughed, as did the rest of our group, and I frowned while taking another bite.

"No, what I need is to find a rich husband who provides for me without me having to worry about anything or have a job." I shrugged when they all rolled their eyes and continued to eat. "You know me, I'm lazy as hell and if I've got money from my husband, then why work?"

"And this is the girl to which we are going to entrust our child too," Remus said to Lyla who was sitting next to us and I just smiled at them before what they said had registered in my brain. It seemed like Blair had also come to the same revelation that I had and we both dropped our mouths open at the news.

"You mean that Alexa gets to be the Godmother?" Blair said excitedly. I felt my heart start to thump quickly as she drew a lot of attention to our table and as Lyla's face started to heat up and she glared at Remus for inadvertently revealing this big news.

Looking over at Blair, who sat on James' other side, she bit her lip in worry. "You're not mad, are you Blair? It's just that Alexa is my sister and we'd always decided that this is how it was going to be since we were really young. If you want you all can be co-godmothers?" Lyla spoke quickly but Blair continued to sit there with an excited look on her face.

"Hell no, she can't be co-godmother! This is all me. I'm going to teach that little girl in there everything that she needs to know." I said with a smile as I thought of my niece and now Goddaughter. Even though I hadn't met her yet, I loved her more than I loved Lyla even. Actually, that probably wasn't true, but if it let me have the chance to be her godmother I'd totally say it.

Lyla sent me a look but Blair quieted her. "No, Alexa's right, Lyla. Let her be Godmother. I completely understand. I'll just fill in if anything goes south." We laughed and Sirius and James looked at each other before they both stated, "I'd be the better Godfather!"

Turning to Remus to settle the debate, Sirius and James looked at each other before turning their best pleading faces towards Remus. "Sorry, guys, but I chose a long time ago. Originally I wanted it to be the Pope, but seeing as he was unavailable at the moment I had to go with James." The loud exclamation of joy from James overwhelmed the rest of Remus' explanation. With a smile, Sirius congratulated James and, I noticed, didn't look to upset about losing Godfather-abilities.

When he noticed me looking at him, he shrugged and pointed at James who was trying his best to hone his Italian mobster persona. "He does the impression better." Was all the explanation Sirius gave me and I grinned at him before turning back to my sandwich and getting mentally prepared for the rest of the day.

"If you don't pay attention, I'm going to leave you down here to suffer and study by yourself with only this Herbology book and Madame Pince to keep you company. Is that what you want from me?" James asked with a frustrated look as I blew my bangs out of my eyes and ran my fingers through my long brunette ponytail.

"No, James, what I want is for you to tutor me and not yell at me every five seconds for not doing what I'm supposed to do. You're making it really difficult for me to not want to tear your head off every time you make a noise when I'm wrong." I said while pushing my book towards him in an angry huff. He made a face like he was mocking me and I reached across the table quickly, grabbing him by his tie and pulling him in closer to me. "If you don't stop poking fun at me I will end your life before you make it to this exam."

As our stare down continued, a voice cleared its throat from behind us and my eyes flicked over to see who was interrupting our sparring session. By the flame red-hair, I ascertained that it was Lily standing behind us and I dropped James' tie before straightening back up. Raising my eyebrows, I looked at the prefect as she pulled a chair out from next to me and took a seat.

"Is it really necessary for you to both act like children in the library where the rest of us are trying to study?" James and I opened our mouths to retaliate but she talked over our protests. "Anyhow, I was just wondering if I could come over and study for the Herbology exam with the both of you."

"I don't know, Evans, would you really be able to handle hanging out with such hooligans?" James asked while ruffling his hair and raising an eyebrow. I reached a hand out and smacked his hand down before sticking my tongue out at him and turning to Lily.

"That sounds good, Lily, it would be nice to have someone a bit more civilized to study with rather than this buffoon." Pulling my book back towards me, I ignored James' look and scanned the pages that Lyla had outlined for me. "Now, James, the question is what are the immediate affects of a Mandrake bite?"

Thinking for a second, James paused and looked out the window as if the answer was going to be written in the clouds. "Well, one of the immediate symptoms is swelling of the appendage that was bitten and a green coloring around the entrance of the wound." He looked proud of himself and I was about to tear down his world when Lily spoke up from next to me.

"There's also the discoloration of the hands and fingers, plus the feeling of wanting to be close to the earth." She said quietly while looking at us over the top of her own Herbology textbook and open notes. James frowned and I smiled at her before turning back to James and very loudly making the sound of a buzzer going off, like those of a game show when the contestant had just answered a question wrong.

"Damn it, Alexa." He said loudly and I shushed him with a triumphant look on my face. He had been making the same noise quite a bit today after the things that I answered had been wrong. If Sirius was the tutor of my dreams, James was the one that I saw in my most hellish nightmares. He wasn't patient, and he believed that instead of encouragement when I started to get antsy or nervous, the way to go about things was to just let the whole library know that I was answering the questions wrong.

"Payback is such a bitch, isn't it, James?" I questioned with a sweet smile, almost forgetting that Lily was sitting there watching our whole exchange. After a moment of just glaring, James picked up his book and swung his bag over his shoulder. "You know you're just being a sore loser if you walk away!" I yelled after him, but it didn't seem to matter as he just flicked his middle finger at me while giving Madame Pince a charming smile and strolling out the doors. I sighed before checking the clock and seeing that I still had another hour or so before Sirius and Lyla would be even remotely close to finished with their History of Magic exams.

I closed my eyes for a second and smiled slightly as I imagined my friends in the classroom. Sirius was probably finished with his test and would be leaning back in his chair asleep, like always, or throwing paper wads at unsuspecting victims. Lyla was most likely working diligently in correcting her answers and double-checking spelling and dates. Although, she would probably have little-to-no corrections to make.

"Alexa?" I heard Lily's voice break through my daydreaming and I turned towards the fiery haired sixth year sitting next to me. Giving her my attention, she continued talking. "I was just wondering what you were thinking about?" At my questioning look, she went on to explain herself. "It's just that you were smiling to yourself and," She broke off and blushed the same color as her hair and I laughed at her.

"You'll get used to me doing that a lot, Lily." I let her know before I stopped and thought to myself. Truth be told I had been thinking about Sirius. And I hadn't really been able to talk to anyone about my situation between studying for exams and everything else. Sure, I still had some studying to do, but Lily looked like she could be trusted and I had talked to her last time something was bothering me, so maybe this would be a good time to get some stuff off my chest. "Actually, I was kind of thinking about someone."

Turning her attention back towards me, she slipped her shoes off and pulled her feet towards her in the chair. "Would this person by any chance be Sirius?" She asked with a smile on her face and I nodded my head, not sure where to go with the conversation now that I was here. "Well, since you were smiling can I assume that these things were good?"

"They were. However, since we've been spending more time together lately since he's tutoring me and all that, it's just been harder to know what I'm feeling or even how to really deal with it all." When she sent me a semi-blank look, I explained. "We kind of agreed over Easter break that we weren't going to really have any dealings with each other after all of this. With me still having feelings for him and the whole fight with Laura and then the whole him wanting to move on business, it was just too hard for us to see and deal with each other everyday."

"No offense, Alexa, but that sounds kind of like a cop out. Instead of dealing with the feelings you both obviously still have for each other, you just run from them. It's never going to get better until you deal with them." Lily's eyes were kind as she stated the blatant facts but I didn't believe her. I couldn't let myself believe her.

I shrugged but couldn't help the little spark of hope I got from her words. "I wish you were right, but he obviously no longer cares about me like that. And if he does why should we put ourselves through that whole ordeal again? I mean the fighting and worrying was shit for us, I hate to think about what our friends felt like. I don't want them to have to choose sides or anything if shit goes way south again."

"Cop out." Lily sing-songed and I rolled my eyes but looked down quickly when she sobered up and put her hand on my arm in comfort. "Listen, if Sirius didn't care for you he wouldn't be taking all this time to help you study. There's something more there, and I'm pretty positive every one of your friends see the same thing. Plus, if you were really going to move on, don't you think you would have already. It's been a month and neither of you have really gotten over anything, have you?"

Opening my mouth to answer, I closed it quickly when another bag hit the table. Looking up at the frazzled looking girl standing in front of me I turned to Lily who was failing to hide her bemused smile. "The Defense test is a piece of shit." Blair said as she put her hands on the table and then leaned her forehead into them. "Oh, shut it, Evans." She muttered as Lily let out a little laughter.

I couldn't hide my wonder, as Blair and Lily were no longer as hostile as they were at the beginning of the year. Seeing my look, my best friend rolled her pretty chocolate eyes. "Contrary to popular belief, I don't hate Lily. We actually studied together."

"And contrary to what everyone seems to think, I'm not trying to steal James from Blair. She can have the toe rag and we can still be friends." Lily continued for her. They smiled at each other before beginning to talk about the Defense exam that Lily had taken earlier that day. Turning back to my Herbology book, I skimmed it for about an hour more, before getting up to stretch my legs. Lily had since left the library and Remus had taken her spot while Blair snoozed lightly in her spot. Nodding to the werewolf that was almost completely encompassed in his Astronomy notes, I walked around the table and into the confines of the library.

Finding myself in the Herbology section, I busied myself with finding a chart of the different plants so I would be able to name them during the exam. I had just reached the book I wanted and was walking back to the table when I heard talking in the direction where the table was. Looking around a bookshelf, I watched as Sirius and Lyla settled their things down at the table. Lyla was talking to Sirius about something, but I could tell he wasn't really listening as he stretched his long arms towards the ceiling.

Recalling my talk with Lily earlier, I couldn't help but hope she had been right as Lyla mentioned my name to Remus who looked up and finally recognized he was no longer alone with the stirring Blair. Taking a breath, I held the charts up in my hand and came around the corner. "Ready to study for this shit?" I asked Sirius and Lyla with a smile.

Taking a seat at the table, I tried not to be noticeable as I took a deep, calming breath as Sirius came around to my side of the table and sat next to me with a smile. Pulling the chart from my hand, he took a moment to study it before waving his wand over the side with the names and laid it back in front of me. "Have at it, Ms. Parker."

I rubbed my eyes and bit my lip as I watched the people around me eventually leave their spots in the classroom. It was around mid-afternoon and I tried valiantly to think of the last freaking essay on this damn test. Transfiguration was always my worst subject and on the point of human transfiguration I was totally lost. My brain was already fried from the week full of my exams and now, in the last exam/test I would take as a sixth year it was completely shutting down on me.

Putting my forehead down on the table, I closed my eyes and tried to think of all the things Sirius had crammed into my head as we were walking to the classroom after lunch today. All the things I knew about Animagi and nothing was helping me now. Not to mention the fact that my friends had all finished the test about half an hour earlier than me. I was starting to freak out big time.

Taking a calming breath, I let the air out through my pursed lips and thought hard. A few minutes passed and I heard a chair sneak out in the desk behind me and then looking up I watched as a Slytherin boy turned his paper in. There were six of us left and as I saw the way the boy walked I had a thought. Then as the thought began to take form, I grabbed my quill, hastily writing down what I thought to be the correct answer on inanimate human transfiguration.

"I trust that you are satisfied with your answers then, Ms. Parker?" McGonagall asked as I handed her my paper with a smile. "Well, I hope to see you next year in class if that gives you any indication, Professor," I said pleasantly as the excitement began to bubble up inside me at being finished with the school year.

Taking my paper and nodding at me with the slightest upturn of her lips, I waved goodbye to my transfiguration professor and bolted for the door, stopping only for a moment to grab my bag. Then as I burst out the door and let it shut behind me, I let out a whoop of excitement and started to run down the hallway towards the lawn where I knew my friends would be waiting for me. Ignoring the weird looks I was getting, I bolted under a tapestry that would take me towards the Great Hall and I could run on an incline and skip the blasted stairs.

As I opened the heavy doors to the Great Hall, I spotted my friends and started waving my arms and shouting at them though I knew they probably couldn't hear me at all. Running like a maniac, I started my descent down to the lake, whooping and hollering enough to have most people look at me, including my friends who all started to turn to me as I got closer. "I passed!" I exaggerated with arm motions when I was close enough for them to make out my words.

They started to cheer and I continued to run, letting my legs carry me to them as my brain went off. It was like I couldn't stop and as Sirius stood to meet me, I jumped into his arms, my legs wrapping around his waist and his hands coming to rest on my hips as I talked excitedly and hugged him. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! I would have totally failed the last question if you hadn't really made me study the teacup person thing that you wouldn't let go! I thought you were freaking crazy but it totally helped me out. I don't know what I would have done without you." I said while he laughed and walked us back to where everyone was sitting.

As Blair began to also talk and rave about how we were all finished with sixth year, I took a breath to start talking again before I stopped completely. Realizing that my legs were still around his waist and that Sirius' hands were resting lightly on my hips, I looked up to see what was going on as my cheeks flushed bright pink.

Sirius smiled at me as I met his gaze and I tried not to bite my lip, failing as I shyly looked away. Not before noticing, however, the slight tightening of his grip as his gaze fell to my lips. "Sorry," I muttered while loosening my hold around his waist and letting him help me off of him. He just shrugged before giving me a one-armed hug and letting go of me completely.

Going to sit near Lyla and Remus on the ground, I patted her rounded stomach like I usually did and ignored her look. "Don't look at me with those judgey little eyes, Lyls." I said in passing and she rolled hers before patting me on the shoulder and messing my hair up. "Thank Merlin you passed, Alex, or I don't know what we would have told mom and dad."

Shrugging, I closed my eyes and fell back into the grass while smiling to myself. "Who cares now, Lyls? School is over!"

"Well, that's the last of it," Blair said as she buckled the trunk I was sitting on top of. "Why does it seem that I always come back with more things than I started with at the beginning of the year?" She asked as Lyla, Lily, and I did one last sweep of the room.

"Because you love to shop?" I asked while looking under my bed and pulling out an old mascara tube, which I then tossed in the garbage.

"Probably the fact that you never go home during the year since you're always at ours?" Lyla said with a smile as she lugged her trunk off her bed. Almost immediately, Lily and Blair jumped at her to help but after the hairbrush to the back of the head I got earlier today for trying to help her with something heavy, I refrained. Seeing the Defense book that was sitting on my bedside table, I picked it up and looked to my friends who were arguing with my pregnant sister.

"I'm going to go return this to James." I said and was waved off as they began to bicker again. Rolling my eyes, I gathered the book up while taking my trunk and putting it outside of the door like we always did at the end of the school year. Taking off down the stairs, I waved at my cousins who were seated in the middle of the Common Room taking bets on the upcoming Marauder prank and if they would have to stay during the summer for detention.

There were many speculations on what the prank was going to be for the end of this year but I had it on good authority that it wouldn't be anything to cause harm to any individuals. Unlike last year, when they had 'accidently' covered the whole graduating class in beet juice, efficiently soaking the honorary robes, ruining the diplomas, and staining Dumbledore's long white beard red for the day, this year there were only going to be some surprises in the end of the year dessert and maybe some fireworks.

Climbing the stairs to the boy's dorms, I knocked on the door and waited until it was pulled open. Standing in front of me, however, was Sirius and not James. "Hey, Alex, I'm just finishing packing. Help me bring the trunks out?" He asked before I could say anything else. I accepted and walked into the dorm, seeing that no one was there and the usually messy room was miraculously clean.

"Wow, it looks like no one has even been in here all year," I said while picking up Captain Awesome from Sirius' trunk and holding him in my arms as I plopped back into Sirius' pillows. He rolled his eyes at me, knowing that I wasn't going to help him with the trunks and I watched as he pulled on Remus' and Peter's and towed them out of the room. Feeling my face flush when he caught me staring at his biceps, which were on display under his gray t-shirt, I turned back to Captain Awesome and pulled on his ears. "Where is everyone, by the way? I brought James' Defense book back to him."

He looked over to the bed where the book had been dropped and shrugged before putting his own trunk and James' outside the room before placing the book on top of the trunk. Coming to sit next to me, he took the Captain out of my arms and placed him on his hand instead. "Not sure. I think they went to set up the fireworks for after the feast."

"Mhmm. And how exactly did you get stuck with all the trunks and cleaning duty?" I asked while nudging him with my elbow as we sat together on his bed. Turning my head up a little to look at him, I watched his eyelashes shutter the gray irises before they opened back up and looked at me again.

"Short straw." He said with a laugh and I rolled my eyes knowing that he probably lost a bet of some sort and it was a 'Marauder's rule' that he couldn't tell me. "Everything packed?" He asked when the silence stretched on for a few moments more. I nodded, knowing that I should get up and leave so we could get to the last lunch of the year, but something was holding me back. Sitting up and turning towards Sirius, I sat on my knees, as he looked at me in question.

"I just wanted to say thank you, again, for helping me study and everything. I wouldn't have passed those exams without you. Seriously." I said with a smile as he shrugged and then flashed his pearly whites at my deliberate use of the word 'serious.'

"Not like I had anything else to do, you know." He said while placing Captain Awesome on his table and sitting up himself.

"That's what I don't get though, Sirius. You had plenty of other things you could have been doing." Looking at my folded hands, I questioned him again. "So, why did you do it? The real answer."

"It was extra practice for me and my own exams. We have the same classes, Alexa. And helping you helped me study too. They say that teaching is the best way to learn something yourself." If I hadn't looked up at him as he finished I would have missed the slight lilt of his eyebrows that always gave him away when he was lying. That being said, I caught him and then crossed my arms over my chest.

"See, I think you're lying to me. I think you miss me, Sirius Black." Surprising us both with my accusation, he sat up against his pillows and looked at me with his unflinching gray eyes. "And you know what, I miss you too. I miss my friend."

"Is that what we are, Alexa? Friends?" He asked and I hesitated as his hand snaked out and grabbed my wrist. Nodding, I held my breath as he slid his other hand around my waist. "Is it okay for a friend to do this then?" Pulling me by my waist, he used the hand that was on my wrist to grab me around my knee and haul me over him so that I was straddling his hips. As his hands splayed across my legs, I couldn't help but breath a bit more shallow while watching his eyes darken.

"Well, I mean in some cases they might." I hesitated slightly as his hands continued to trail up my thighs and toyed with the bottom of my shorts before slipping up to my belt. Reaching out to hold onto his shoulders, I shivered and he dragged my shirt up to bare my stomach.

"And if I did this?" He asked, steady handed and not freaking out in the slightest, while I about wet myself from my nerves. Without warning, he pulled my shirt up over my head and laid me flat on my back as he hovered over me. Taking a deep breath, I barely had time to answer him before his lips fused with mine. As we kissed in earnest I knew that pretty much all the studying and test taking was going to be totally worth it if I got to hang out with my tutor outside of class like this.

"Sirius," I gasped as he removed his lips from my mouth and began to trail hot open-mouthed kisses from my neck down my chest, only pausing when he reached the skin of my stomach to look up at me. I opened my closed eyes and lifted myself up slightly on my elbows before thinking about what I had to say. "If we do this, no one can know, okay?"

"I'm not asking to date you, Alexa, I'm just helping you study." With a wink, he resumed his ministrations, and I threw my head back as his fingers suddenly squeezed me tighter on my hipbones. While I felt his tongue skim my waistband, I let him undo the brown belt I had on and slide it off of me before I shimmied out of my jean shorts.

Pulling him by his hair, I led his face back to mine and subconsciously licked my lips before we kissed again. As his tongue met mine, I swept my hand down his back and reached for the hem of his shirt. Getting the memo, he sat up, his knees on either side of my waist, and I watched as he slowly but surely exposed every bit of his tanned and muscled chest. Biting my lip, I smiled before letting him kiss me again.

Feeling him smirk, I wrapped my legs around his waist and used my strength to switch our positions. Then, with the upper hand now, I straddled his waist while my hands roamed over his muscles. Losing myself in the feelings I only got around this particular boy, I followed my hands with my mouth and let my tongue trail down his defined abs until I struck gold and heard him gasp. Looking up at him as I reached for the belt to his khaki shorts, I caught his eye as he lifted his head up to look at me, his hair falling off his face and allowing me to see those gray eyes darken closer to black.

As he kicked off his shorts, I didn't hesitate as my hands continued their actions farther south and it wasn't until Sirius groaned that I knew I had to stop. "Alex," He warned while I crawled back up his legs and he looked at me again. "Come here," He commanded and I did as he told while his hands came around my back and flicked the clasp of my plain white bra off. As he stripped it from my shoulders, I suddenly blushed while he stared heatedly at me.

"Stop it." I muttered looking away and it wasn't until he turned my face back to him that I saw he was smiling at me. Then his smile turned devious as his hands trailed from my cheeks to my neck and then ghosted over my breasts. Closing my eyes and biting my lips again, I bit back my sigh of pleasure, knowing it would only make his smirk widen.

Sitting up so both of our bare chests touched, he turned us around and then laid me back against his pillows softly before his eyes met mine again. "Are you sure?" He asked sobering up as much as he could in this moment. I thought about it; we weren't dating and I wasn't sure we ever would again. But in this moment the only thing I wanted was Sirius, and I was going to get what I wanted.

In response, I put my hands on the band of my panties and slid them down as he watched my actions with rapt attention. Without saying anything, he nodded and stripped himself of his boxers as well. I felt my eyes widen, not for the first time, and then a warm heat filled my stomach from the contraception charm he had uttered.

Kissing me again, I couldn't help the noises that escaped my lips as our bodies joined together and even Sirius broke away to put his head in the crook of my neck. "Merlin, Alexa." He muttered before I couldn't stand the stillness anymore and started to move my hips just slightly. Understanding my message, he started to move and I clutched at his hair as we kissed again. Before too long, his movements began to become more frantic and I wrapped my legs around him as he looked down at me.

It took only a few moments more before I cried out and closed my eyes, my back arching on its own accord as I saw stars dance across my vision. Sirius soon followed and allowed his weight to fall slightly so he was hovering over me just barely, our chests meeting at every breath me took. Not able to stop the smile that was forming on my face, I pushed my hands back through his sweaty hair and kissed him very briefly.

"I thoroughly enjoyed relearning that lesson," I whispered to him in the otherwise quiet room and he let out a short laugh as he rolled off of me and landed on his back next to me. Feeling suddenly cold, I realized that we were definitely both going to need a shower and were going to be so late for the feast. Turning to look at him, I could tell he was having the same thoughts.

When he finally looked up at me, he smiled that conniving grin I had always found attractive, even more so now as we both laid naked on his bed. "Want to save the house elves some cleaning time and shower together?" Rolling my eyes, I stood up, stretching now that his eyes were solely focused on me and turned around to look at him.

"What are you waiting for?" I asked him and he leapt out of the bed, grabbing me around the waist and hauling me into the bathroom as I squealed.

The compartment in the train was quiet as I sat across from James, who was none to subtle about his looks between Sirius and I at our places on opposite ends of the compartment from each other. Narrowing my eyes at him, I sent him a questioning look but he looked away from me just in time to miss it. Biting down the panic in my stomach at the fact that he might know of Sirius and my new arrangement, I smiled at my sister who sat next to me on the train.

"So I was thinking, since the wedding is coming up and the baby is going to be here soon, had you decided on any names?" Shrugging, Lyla looked to Remus who shrugged as well.

"Excellent question, Al! I've been getting a little tired of calling the baby an it." Blair said from her spot between James and Sirius. Looking excitedly between the happy couple seated next to me, we all waited for one of the two to answer.

"Well, we hadn't really thought of anything in particular yet." Remus said as he looked pensive for a minute and then looked to Lyla.

She laughed before resting her free hand on her stomach. "Actually, Remus has taken to calling her Baby Lyla, but other than that I haven't thought about it too much either. I figure we'll just know when we see her what to call her." Blair aw'ed and I rolled my eyes at the two lovebirds; while James went on to explain to them that James worked for a boy or girl.

Feeling a heated stare on my person, I turned to look directly at Sirius, who winked and I swallowed back a laugh as I fought my secretive smile. I was about to open my mouth to speak, when the train started to slow and I saw the platform nearing our vision. My excitement started to rise as I thought about summer and everything else that would come with it.

By the time we had stopped, the compartment was a flurry of confusion as we grabbed for trunks and made sure Lyla didn't put a hand to anything. In the end, I stayed a bit back until Sirius had gotten his trunk down and fell in behind me. Leaning forward, I felt his breath on my neck as he spoke softly. "So I'll see you tomorrow at James' for the first of the wedding events?" He asked and I shivered in anticipation.

Turning back to him, I shrugged my shoulders but sent him a wink as I thought about our new arrangement. Friends with benefits; I could totally handle that. And as I watched his gray t-shirt cling to his biceps, I began to feel excited all over again. "I don't know, Sirius, maybe we will."

"Oh, really?" He asked as we neared our family and stepped into the fray of oncoming students. As James turned back for Sirius and we began to say our goodbyes, I wrapped my arms around him for a hug.

"Of course, because honestly, Sirius Black, you just can't touch this."

* * *

Author's Note: Well, there you have it ladies and gents. The final chapter of our story You Can't Touch This. I just want to put it out there that you all are amazing and I'm not just saying that. It's truly amazing that you all can stick with our ramblings and even leave some reviews. It's awesome. So are you all. And I'm going to miss updating this story every so often.

Good news: We'll be starting a sequel asasap, which is really freaking fast, by the way. And I'll add a little note to this when we do. Hopefully it should be up within the month.

Thanks again to all who read and I'm glad you stuck with us and I hope you enjoyed. Now, for the last time, how about a little review?

XOXO,

BabyBlue and AmuletGirl


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